NEWTON  CAMPUS  DIVISION 
OF 

BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARIES 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 


Newton  College  oiF  the  Sacred  Heart 
Library  / 

S85  Centre  Street  ^ 
Newton,  Massachusetts  02159 


I 


J 


WiUiarn  filankwofjd  &  Cons  ,  Edinborgli  &  London  . 


T  IHTE 


rr 


WUXXTTAW  BILAC1EDTO(Q)I])  &  St 


LIVES 


QUEENS   OF  SCOTLAND 


ENGLISH  PRINCESSES 


CONNECTED  WITH  THE  REGAL  SUCCESSION  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN 


AUTHOR  OF. 

'LIVES  OF  THE  QUEENS  OF  ENGLAND' 


^'  The  treasures  of  antiquity  laid  up 
In  old  historic  rolls  I  opened."— Beaumont. 

i 


VOL.  VIII. 


WILLIAM   BLACKWOOD   AND  SONS 
EDINBURGH    AND  LONDON 
MDOCCLIX 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MA  02167 


14 


CONTENTS 

OF 

THE   EIGHTH  VOLUME 


ELIZABETH  STUART,  first  princess  royal  of  great  Britain—  Page 

CHAP.    I.   1 

II   36 

III.  .        .        .        .        .        .  .67 

IV   95 

V   133 

VI   163 

VII.   202 

VIII   226 

IX.   255 

SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER- 
CHAP.    I.   285 

II   314 

III.   350 

IV   387 


ILLUSTEATIONS 

TO 

THE    EIGHTH  VOLUME 


FRONTISPIECE— PORTRAIT  OF  SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER,  from 
a  fine  Mezzotint  by  Pfalz.    {See  Pages  393-4.) 

VIGNETTE—"  ELIZABETH  SERVED  BY  THE  TAEORITES."   {See  Page  110.) 

WOODCUTS— AUTOGRAPH  OF  ELIZABETH  STUART.    {See  Page  213. 

AUTOGRAPH  OF  SOPHIA  ELECTRESS  OF    HANOVER,  from 
Ayscougli  MSS.,  Brit.  Museum.    {See  Page  416.) 


THE 

QUEENS  OF  SCOTLAND 

AND  ENGLISH  PRINCESSES 


ELIZABETH  STUAET 

THE  FIRST  PRINCESS-ROYAL  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN 

CHAPTER  L 

SUMMARY 

Purpose  of  the  Royal  biographies — "  Queens  of  England,"  and  Queens 
of  Scotland  and  Princesses  connected  with  the  Regal  Succession  of 
Great  Britain "  —  Birth  of  Elizabeth  Stuart,  granddaughter  of  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots,  eldest  daughter  of  James  VL  and  Anne  of  Denmark — 
!N"amed  by  the  Ambassador  of  Queen  Elizabeth — City  of  Edinburgh  her 
godmother—  She  is  nursed  at  Dunfermline — Guarded  by  Lord  Living- 
stone— Objections  against  Lady  Livingstone — Lady  Ochiltree  appointed 
her  governess — Elizabeth's  early  playfellow  is  afterwards  her  biographer 
— James  VL,  her  father,  succeeds  Queen  EHzabeth  on  the  English  throne, 
and  becomes  King  of  Great  Britain  as  James  L — Elizabeth  enters  Eng- 
land with  her  mother — Her  beloved  governess  superseded — Her  grief — 
Romantic  encounter  with  her  cousin,  Lady  Arabella  Stuart,  who  is 
appointed  her  State  governess — Meets  her  father,  James  L — Her  progress 
diverges  to  Combe  Abbey — Witnesses  the  festival  of  the  Garter  at  Windsor 
Castle — Project  of  her  marrying  the  Dauphin — Shown  his  picture — Her 
mother's  preference  for  a  Spanish  match — The  king  arranges  her  edu- 
cation— Placed  in  the  care  of  Lord  Harrington — Sorrowful  parting  with 
her  brother  Henry — Departs  with  her  young  maids  of  honour — Arrives 
at  Combe  Abbey — Her  island — Her  wilderness— Happiness  in  Lord  Har- 
rington's tuition — Disturbed  by  the  Gunpowder  Plot — Dangers  from 
Catesby — Taken  to  Coventry — Illness — Reminiscences  of  her  Erskine 
maid  of  honour — Routine  of  education — Religion — History — Astronomy 
— Her  cottages  for  the  poor  —  Aviary  —Miniature  farm — Her  lavish 
expenditure  of  her  allowance — Pecuniary  troubles — Advice  of  her  tutor 
thereon — Adult  establishment — Visits  to  her  brother  at  Ham  House — r 
He  frightens  her  with  ghost-stories — Traditions  of  her  terror — Marriage- 
treaty  for  her  with  the  Elector  Palatine — His  position  in  Europe. 

The  great  tragedy  of  the  hapless  island  heiress,  Marv 
Stuart,  has  been  delineated  from  its  commencing  to  its  clos- 

VOL.  VIII.  A 


2 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


ing  scene.  Our  occupation  is  almost,  but  not  quite,  gone. 
It  has  been  but  the  development  of  one  purpose  unswervingly 
pursued — that  of  tracing,  by  means  of  two  series  of  royal 
female  biographies,  the  progressive  march  of  civilisation  and 
the  interior  life  and  domestic  history  of  our  country.  Com- 
mencing with  the  Queens  of  England  at  the  earliest  period 
when  female  influence  was  acknowledged  in  the  govern- 
ment of  a  court,  our  first  series  was  brought  down  to  the 
reign  of  the  last  monarch  of  the  elder  line,  and  the  acces- 
sion of  the  present  dynasty,  whose  hereditary  claims  to 
the  succession  are  derived  from  the  two  Princesses  whose 
lives  occupy  this  volume,  namely,  Elizabeth  Stuart,  Princess- 
E-oyal  of  Great  Britain,  afterwards  Queen  of  Bohemia,  and 
Sophia,  Electress  of  Hanover,  the  granddaughter  and  great- 
granddaughter  of  Mary  Stuart :  with  their  lives,  this,  the 
second  series  of  our  royal  biographies,  will  close. 

Elizabeth  Stuart,  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  marriage  of 
James  VI.  King  of  Scotland  and  Anne  of  Denmark,  was 
born  at  the  beautiful  little  palace  of  Falkland,  August  19, 
1596.  Her  mother  had  a  well-beloved  sister  Elizabeth, 
Duchess  of  Brunswick ;  but  of  course  the  powerful  Queen 
Elizabeth  received  the  compliment  of  naming  the  infant  of 
her  heir  and  dutiful  godson.  King  Jamie.  Yet  there  was 
no  special  embassy  from  England,  no  rich  presents,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  king's  inauspicious  baptism.  The  child  was 
presented  at  the  font  in  Holyrood  Chapel,  by  Mr  Bowes, 
lieger-ambassador  from  the  Court  of  England,  who  acted  as 
godfather,  and  named  her  Elizabeth.  The  godmother  of  the 
young  Elizabeth  was  the  good  town  of  Edinburgh,  stoutly 
represented  by  her  Provost  and  Bailies,  who  promised  and 
vowed  that  the  catechumen  should  be  brought  up  in  the 
Reformed  faith.  And  truly  this  mural  godmother  was  very 
likely  to  keep  her  word  by  the  aid  of  the  sword-militant. 
In  times  when  there  was  some  probability  that  the  god- 
child might  suffer  pains  and  penalties  not  a  few  for  the  faith 
professed,  an  embattled  city,  with  all  its  men  of  might,  was 
the  most  responsible  of  sponsors.  Neither  did  Auld  Eeekie 
forget  her  duty  in  a  handsome  propine ;  for  a  rich  box 
heaped  with  gold  pieces  was  her  gift,  which  was  duly  added 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


3 


to  the  treasury  of  the  Lady  Elizabeth's  grace,  who  was 
about  four  months  old,  her  baptism  taking  place  December 
28,  1596. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  months  after  her  baptism,  Eliza- 
beth's mural  godmother  made  herself  heard  in  angry  tones 
touching  the  creed  of  the  Lady  Livingstone,^  although  that 
lady  had  no  charge  about  the  person  of  the  Princess,  but 
King  James  had  made  her  husband,  Lord  Livingstone, 
captain  of  her  guard.  His  Scottish  Majesty  was  very  poor, 
but  at  the  same  time  willing  to  show  grateful  remem- 
brance to  those  who  had  been  faithful  to  his  mother;  for 
he  never  forgot  her  friends  when  he  had  a  modicum  of  cash 
or  a  household  appointment  to  bestow.  Lord  Livingstone 
was  a  Protestant,  and  the  son  of  a  Protestant ;  his  wife  had 
turned  Roman  Catholic.  It  was  in  vain  the  King  affirmed 
that  Lady  Livingstone  had  nought  to  do  with  the  defence 
of  his  girl,  and  that  she  could  not  interfere  with  her 
husband's  office  to  watch  all  egress  and  regress  to  the 
Princess's  tower  at  Dunfermline,  were  she  twenty  times  a 
Papist.  The  guid  town's''  preachers  were  not  satisfied, 
although,  as  the  baby  could  not  speak,  her  theological  prin- 
ciples were  not  liable  to  be  tampered  with.  At  last  the 
heart-burning  was  appeased  by  the  appointment  of  Lady 
Ochiltree  to  the  chief  office  in  the  Princess-Eoyal's  nursery  ; 
— reminiscences  of  the  connection  of  the  Ochiltree  family 
with  John  Knox  being  popular,  Auld  Reekie  relaxed  from 
her  wrath  and  anxieties.  Some  trifling  entries  in  James 
VI.'s  Compotus  show  that  he  expended  cash  to  buy  brushes 
to  "  straik  the  Princess's"  hair  withal ;  likewise  to  dress 
babies  to  play  her,"  which,  in  English,  means  dolls  for  her 
to  play  with. 

The  infant  Princess  was  permitted  to  remain  with  the 
Queen,  as  some  compensation  for  her  Majesty's  maternal 
sufferings  in  being  deprived  of  her  eldest  son  Prince  Henry, 
who  was  enclosed  for  safety  in  the  strong  fortress  of 
Stirling — a  proceeding  passionately  resented  by  Queen 
Anne,  but  indispensably  necessary  for  the  well-being  of  the 
whole  royal  family,  as  the  factious  party  in  Scotland  had, 
1  Spottiswoode. 


4 


ELIZABETH  STUART^ 


in  several  preceding  reigns,  set  up  the  infant  heir  of  the 
realm  in  rivalry  to  his  parent,  the  actual  monarch.  Brought 
up  apart,  and  only  meeting  at  stated  intervals,  EHzabeth 
and  Henry  formed,  as  they  grew  up,  the  most  tender  friend- 
ship for  each  other — as  when  they  met,  each  hour  was  a 
long-looked-for  festival,  and  the  short  sweet  holiday  was  too 
precious  to  be  wasted  in  wrangling  and  contradiction,  often 
arising  when  familiar  intercourse  leads  to  contempt.  To 
this  separation  may  be  attributed  the  early  correspondence 
by  letter  that  constantly  passed  between  this  pretty  pair- 
he  enclosed  in  his  castellated  rock,  and  she  in  the  towers 
of  Dunfermline,  the  last  buildings  added  to  this  palace  by 
Anne  of  Denmark  being  especially  for  her  daughter's 
nursery. 

Notwithstanding  the  anger  and  jealousy  with  which  her 
mother,  Queen  Anne,  regarded  the  Earl  of  Mar,  for  his 
sedulous  performance  of  his  duty  in  denying  all  unauthorised 
access  to  Prince  Henry  at  Stirling  Castle,  her  wrath  did 
not  extend  to  the  whole  family  of  Erskine  ;  her  Majesty  was 
pleased  to  patronise  and  tolerate  a  young  lady  of  that  illus- 
trious house  as  the  early  playfellow  and  maid  of  honour  of 
her  daughter.  The  pen  of  this  lady  left  a  pleasant  record  of 
her  Princess,  revealing,  as  an  eyewitness,  that  familiar  and 
interior  life  to  which  it  is  pleasant  indeed  for  a  biographer  to 
gain  access.i  She  tells  us — and  indeed  all  portraits  prove 
that  her  evidence  was  not  too  flattering — that  the  young 
Elizabeth  was  one  of  the  loveliest  and  most  promising  of 
children.  So  excessively  attached  was  she  to  Lady  Ochil- 
tree, that  her  first  sorrow,  in  being  separated  from  her,  had 
a  visible  effect  on  her  health  and  spirits. 

With  the  hour  of  her  father's  accession  to  the  throne  of 

i  The  Reverend  and  Honourable  T.  Erskine,  Vicar  of  Beigbton  in  Derby- 
shire, uncle  to  the  Earl  of  Mar,  lent  us  a  very  curious  privately-printed 
historical  work,  being  a  fragment  of  a  Life  of  Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Bohemia, 
by  one  of  his  female  ancestors  who  had  been  attached  to  her  service  from 
childhood  ;  edited  by  his  grandmother,  who  was  granddaughter  to  that 
lady.  It  is  a  thin  duodecimo  volume,  containing  only  162  pages,  which 
comprise  the  histor}''  of  the  childhood  and  education  of  this  illustrious 
daughter  of  the  royal  house  of  Stuart,  who  was  interesting  no  less  for  her 
virtues  and  heroic  viualities,  than  for  the  misfortunes  which  made  her 
married  life  resemble  the  events  of  a  romance. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


5 


England  the  public  life  of  the  young  Elizabeth  in  some 
degree  began.  Although  the  contumacious  behaviour  of 
Anne  of  Denmark  to  her  lord  and  master,  on  this  and  other 
changes  connected  with  his  accession  to  the  sovereignty  of 
the  whole  Island,  really  amounted  to  household  rebellion, 
yet  she  was  not  absurd  enough  to  communicate  any  of  her 
tactics  to  her  young  daughter  of  seven  years  old,  the  com- 
panion of  her  southern  progress,  or  to  her  daughter's  maid 
of  honour.  They  only  knew  that  the  Queen  and  court  were 
journeying  to  King  James,  who  had  preceded  them,  in 
England — that  it  was  proper  that  Elizabeth,  now  Princess- 
Eoyal  of  England,  should  be  given  to  the  care  of  an  English 
lady  of  rank.  It  was  nevertheless  very  hard  for  the  Princess 
to  relinquish  the  maternal  friend,  whom  she  loved  as  much 
as,  and  perhaps  a  little  more  than,  she  did  her  own  mother, 
as  may  be  gathered  from  the  Erskine  narrative. 

Indeed,  the  heart  of  the  young  Elizabeth  clave  to  her  own 
country  and  her  own  people.  She  was  then  scarcely  be- 
yond infancy,  but  of  precocious  intellect  and  strong  affec- 
tions, and  she  could  not  bear  the  thoughts  of  being  separated 
from  the  companions  of  her  infancy,  and  those  who  had 
been  accustomed  to  wait  upon  her.  As  the  Princess,'^ 
says  our  authority,  "  had  always  honoured  me  with  greater 
familiarity  and  friendship  than  any  other  of  her  playfellows, 
the  Queen  allowed  her  to  take  me  to  England  with  her ;  and 
as  I  loved  her  better  than  I  did  anybody,  I  obeyed  with 
cheerful  readiness,  and  never  left  my  dear  mistress  after 
that.  We  set  out  with  the  Queen  and  Prince  Henry,  and 
a  great  train  of  Scots  nobility,  who  attended  them  as  far  as 
Berwick,  where  the  Earls  of  Sussex  and  Lincoln,  the  Lords 
Compton  and  Norris,  and  their  ladies,  with  the  Countesses 
of  Worcester,  Bedford,  and  Kildare,  Lady  Anne  Herbert, 
the  Ladies  Scrope,  Rich,  and  Walsingham,  and  many 
more,  came  to  meet  the  Queen/'  Lady  Kildare,  daughter  to 
Charles  Howard,  Earl  of  Nottingham,  Admiral  of  England, 
and  widow  of  the  Earl  of  Kildare,^  brought  a  letter  from 
the  King,  desiring  the  Queen    that  that  good  and  virtuous 

*  As  wife  of  the  King's  kinsman,  Fitzgerald,  Earl  of  Kildare,  and  a  near 
relative  by  birth  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  this  lady  had  claims  to  an  appoint- 


6 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


lady  might  instantly  attend  their  daughter;"' — a  very  wise 
and  popular  measure,  alike  as  regarded  the  important  ser- 
vices the  Lord-Admiral  had  rendered  to  the  realm  of  Eng- 
land by  the  destruction  of  the  Armada,  the  expediency  of 
conciliating  the  powerful  connection  of  the  Howards,  and, 
above  all,  the  personal  accomplishments  of  the  Lady  Kildare, 
who  was,  besides,  nearly  related  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  The 
little  Princess,  however,  who  had  not  yet  recovered  the 
grief  of  parting  with  her  former  governess,  was  greatly 
moved  when  the  Queen  her  mother  told  her  she  had 
named  a  successor  whose  merit  and  good-nature  would 
soon  comfort  her  for  the  loss  she  was  lamenting/'  Oh, 
Madam!''  answered  the  little  Princess,  bursting  into  tears, 
nothing  can  ever  make  me  forget  one  I  have  loved  so 
much." 

I  would  not  have  you  forget  her,  child,''  replied  the 
Queen,  but  I  would  have  you  love  Lady  Kildare  as  well 
in  time,  who,  I  dare  say,  will  deserve  it  by  her  fondness  for 

"  My  young  mistress,""  continues  the  noble  biographer  of 
Elizabeth  Stuart,  sobbed  out  some  pretty  compliment  to 
Lady  Kildare,  which  I  have  now  forgot,  and  dried  up  her 
tears  as  well  as  she  could.  Not  being  of  an  age  to  retain 
grief  long,  she  soon  became  sensible  of  Lady  Kildare's  merit, 
and  was  at  last  very  fond  of  her."^  But  Lady  Kildare  was 
not  at  the  head  of  the  Princess's  establishment.  Her  state- 
governess  was  her  father's  cousin-german,  the  Lady  Ara- 
bella Stuart,  to  whom  the  reader  is  introduced  in  a  mode 
perfectly  new  to  any  of  her  biographers,  but  at  the  same 
time  perfectly  consistent  with  the  curious  half-theatrical 
fashion  of  the  times,  carried  to  excess  by  Queen  Elizabeth, 
and  then  at  its  height. 

ment  of  consequence  about  the  royal  family.  James  I.  complied  with  the 
English  customs  as  far  as  possible,  to  obviate  the  strong  jealousy  arising 
even  then  betw^een  his  southern  and  northern  subjects.  The  anger  and 
violence  with  which  his  Queen,  Anne  of  Denmark,  received  the  individuals 
of  the  new  household,  sent  to  the  Borders  for  herself  and  children,  and 
the  odd  way  in  which  she  behaved,  have  been  mentioned  in  her  Life. — 
Queens  of  England,  Anne  of  Denmark. 

^  Life  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  by  one  of  her  ladies ;  in  possession  of 
the  Hon.  and  Kev.  T.  Erskine,  Vicar  of  Beighton,  Derbyshire  ;  pp.  40-46. 


ELIZABETH  STUART.  7 

"  One  day  as  we  were  coming  down  a  hill  in  Nottingham- 
shire, we  perceived  a  great  company,  which,  as  we  drew 
near,  appeared  like  what  you  have  read  of  the  shepherds 
and  shepherdesses  of  Arcadia.  One  band  was  of  young 
women  dressed  all  in  white,  with  garlands  on  their  heads, 
and  on  their  arms  baskets  of  flowers,  which  they  strewed 
along  the  road,  followed  by  young  men  clad  also  in  white, 
and  playing  on  the  tabor,  pipe,  and  all  kinds  of  rural  instru- 
ments, leading  a  flock  of  sheep,  whose  wool  was  white  as 
snow.  Cornucopias,  and  other  emblems  of  peace  and  plenty, 
were  carried  by  several  of  the  party,  singing  choruses  in 
praise  of  the  royal  family,  and  of  the  blessings  of  peace, 
which  their  accession  was  to  secure  to  the  whole  Island. 

"  A  troop  of  huntsmen  arrayed  in  green  and  silver  came 
next,  conducting  a  herd  of  tame  deer,  with  their  horns 
tipped  with  gold.  These  swains  told  us  that  Diana,  hearing 
of  the  Queen's  approach,  was  coming  to  invite  her  to  repose 
herself  in  one  of  her  retreats.  They  hardly  ended  their 
speech,  which  was  in  verse,  when  we  heard  the  sound  of 
bugles  from  a  neighbouring  wood,  out  of  which  we  saw 
several  beautiful  girls  advance,  attired  like  nymphs;  and 
last  of  all  appeared  Diana — that  is,  a  lady  representative  of 
the  goddess,  who  proved  to  be  the  Lady  Arabella  Stuart, 
daughter  to  Charles,  Earl  of  Lennox,  younger  brother  to 
the  King's  father.  She  had  more  than  once  been  imprisoned 
by  Queen  Elizabeth,  out  of  jealousy  to  her  proximity  to  the 
crown,  and  was  found  in  strict  confinement  by  King  James, 
who  had  just  released  her  from  durance,  and  taken  her  into 
high  favour,  appointing  her  his  daughter's  state-governess, 
according  to  the  ancient  custom  of  England,  which  required 
that  office  to  be  filled  by  the  lady  nearest  in  blood  to  the  royal 
family."  The  Lady  Arabella  now  came  to  show  her  gratitude 
for  this  happy  change  in  her  fortunes,  and  by  meeting  his 
Queen  after  the  fantastical  fashion  so  truly  to  her  taste,  she 
won  her  favour  directly.  Moreover,  she  caused  great  admira- 
tion in  the  eyes  of  the  youthful  Princess,  her  kinswoman  and 
nominal  charge,^  who  was,  with  her  childish  maid  of  honour, 

^  It  is  certain  that  Lady  Arabella  Stuart  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  which 
explains  many  mysteries  in  her  life. 


8 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


just  of  the  age  for  appreciating  stags  with  gilt  horns,  Diana, 
and  her  troop ;  the  wonder  is  how  they  could  have  been 
relished  by  children  of  larger  growth. 

"  The  Queen  could  not  go  so  far  out  of  her  road  as  Chats- 
worth,  the  old  Lady  Shrewsbury's  seat,  to  which  she  had 
desired  her  granddaughter,  Lady  Arabella,  to  invite  her 
Majesty.  Probably  neither  James  nor  his  consort  felt  dis- 
posed to  pay  any  particular  mark  of  respect  to  one  from 
whom  the  hapless  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  had  received  such 
injurious  treatment.  Queen  Anne,  however,  accepted  with 
pleasure  an  invitation  to  Holme  Pierrepont,  where  Sir 
Henry  Pierrepont  and  his  lady,^  aunt  to  the  Lady  Arabella, 
had  the  honour  of  entertaining  the  Queen  for  some  days, 
during  which  time  the  Lady  Elizabeth  became  extremely 
fond  of  her  kinswoman.  From  thence  we  went  to  Walbeck 
[meaning  Welbeck  Abbey],  where  we  met  and  were  enter- 
tained by  Sir  Charles  Cavendish,  son  to  old  Lady  Shrews- 
bury, and  uncle  to  Lady  Arabella.  Lady  Arabella  attached 
herself  to  the  royal  progress,  and  my  young  mistress, 
although  so  much  younger,  was  never  happier  than  when  in 
her  company ;  and  her  conversation  rendered  the  rest  of  the 
journey  less  tedious  to  the  Queen,  whom  the  King  advanced 
from  Windsor  to  meet  at  Holmby  Palace  or  Castle." 

Elizabeth,  according  to  her  father's  plans,  diverged  with 
her  train  of  attendants  from  the  progress,  to  rest  and  re- 
fresh at  Combe  Abbey,  about  two  miles  from  Coventry, 
then  possessed  by  Lord  Harrington,  to  whom  the  charge  of 
her  person,  and  the  care  of  her  board  and  education,  were 
afterwards  consigned.  The  time  was  high  Midsummer,  the 
weather  furiously  hot.^  Combe  Abbey,  situated  in  the 
loveliest  scenery  of  England,  its  bowery  demesne  having 
been  cultivated  to  the  greatest  perfection  its  late  monastic 
possessors  could  effect,  struck  the  young  Princess  as  in 
strong  contrast  to  the  wild  beauty  of  her  native  country. 
King  James  thus  presented  the  future  residence  of  his  child 
to  her  at  the  most  favourable  time  of  the  year,  when  her 

^  The  father  and  mother  of  Bessy  Pierrepont,  the  young  favourite  of 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots.    See  Vol.  YK.,  Queens  of  Scotland,  &c., — this  series. 
*  Lady  Anne  Clifford's  Journal,  and  the  Erskine  Biography. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


9 


toilsome  travel  through  the  mid-countles  made  rest  In  the 
cool  shades  of  this  ecclesiastical  paradise  most  welcome. 

King  James  had  been  anxious  to  see  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren once  more ;  and  as  for  my  young  mistress/'  says  her 
early  companion,  her  father  was  exceedingly  beloved  by 
her.  The  endearing  manner  in  which  she  expressed  her 
joy  at  seeing  him  again,  gave  him  the  utmost  pleasure. 
He  had  had  prepared  for  her  at  Windsor  a  thousand  pretty 
toys  suitable  to  her  age.  At  last  he  showed  her  the 
Dauphin's  miniature  picture,  and  asked  her  '  how  she 
would  like  him  for  a  husband  ?'  She  made  him  no  answer, 
but  coloured  (as  you  must  have  observed  girls  generally 
do,  though  ever  so  young,  when  you  talk  to  them  of  being 
married),  and  ran  into  the  next  room,  where  I  was  in  wait- 
ing with  some  of  the  Queen's  ladies.  She  whispered  to 
me  '  that  she  had  a  great  secret  to  tell  me ; '  and  when 
we  were  alone,  she  told  me  what  the  King  had  said  to  her, 
and  that  the  Dauphin's  picture  was  the  prettiest  face  she 
had  ever  seen  :  she  charged  me  not  to  tell  her  brother 
that  she  had  said  so.  Prince  Henry,  who  had  been  shown, 
in  like  manner,  the  picture  of  the  French  Princess,  was 
equally  pleased  at  it,  and  with  the  thoughts  that  he  and 
his  sister  were  to  marry  the  children  of  that  great  man, 
Henry  IV.,  for  whose  character  he  had  the  utmost  vene- 
ration/' Sully ,^  who  had  been  despatched  by  Henry  IV. 
on  a  congratulatory  embassy,  had  presented  these  minia- 
tures to  James  I.  One  of  Sully's  missions  was  to  repre- 
sent to  James  the  good  measure  of  supporting  the  still 
struggling  republic  of  Holland  against  her  oppressors. 
James  adopted  this  course,  but  concluded  at  the  same  time 
a  profitable  peace  with  Spain,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of 
the  people  of  Great  Britain,  but  rather  to  the  disappoint- 
ment of  the  great  Sully  and  his  greater  master. 

Between  jest  and  earnest.  King  James  had  much  to  say 
in  his  own  family  on  the  marriages  of  the  royal  children 
of  Great  Britain  and  France;  but  the  Queen,  to  whom 
great  court  was  at  the  same  time  paid  by  a  very  foppish 

^  He  was  then  Marquis  de  Rosny,  but  as  his  title  Sully  is  his  historical 
name,  it  is  used  here  to  spare  confusion  of  ideas. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


ambassador -extraordinary  from  Spain,  Count  Aremberg, 
preferred  the  idea  of  alliance  with  Spain,  to  the  extreme 
tribulation  of  her  children.  The  nursery-tales  of  Elizabeth 
as  well  as  of  Henry  had  been  replete  with  the  cruelty  and 
horrors  perpetrated  by  Spain  in  Holland  and  wheresoever 
her  despotism,  armed  with  the  fiery  scourge  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion, could  extend  itself.  These  terrors,  founded  on  unde- 
niable facts,  clung  to  the  minds  of  the  brother  and  sister  so 
as  to  influence  Elizabeth's  future  life,  and  that  of  Henry, 
as  long  as  it  lasted. 

"  Soon  after  our  arrival,''  resumes  her  maid  of  honour, 
Prince  Henry,  the  Duke  of  Lennox,  Lord  Southampton, 
Lord  Pembroke,  and  Lord  Mar,  were  installed  Knights  of 
the  Garter.  The  Queen,  to  show  her  resentment  to  Lord 
Mar,  refused  to  witness  the  ceremony ;  her  daughter,  how- 
ever, with  the  Lady  Arabella,  occupied  a  recess  in  one  of 
the  windows  of  St  George's  Hall.  Her  Majesty  held  a 
drawing-room  after  the  ceremony,  where  all  the  ladies  of 
the  new  court,  and  great  numbers  of  the  nobility,  were 
admitted  to  kiss  her  hand.  Her  gracious  reception  gave 
the  utmost  satisfaction,  and  her  Scottish  subjects  observed, 
that  she  never  had  looked  so  handsome  as  that  day.  King 
James  himself,  who  did  not  often  now  take  notice  of  her 
appearance, called  Lord  Southampton  and  some  others  whom 
he  had  brought,  and  asked  them  if  they  did  not  think  his 
Annie  (as  he  generally  called  her)  looked  passing  well ;  and 
my  little  Bessie  too,''  added  he,  taking  his  daughter  up  in  his 
arms  and  kissing  her,  is  not  an  ill-fared  wench,  and  may 
outshine  her  mother  one  of  these  days."  "  That  is  more, 
sir,"  replied  Lord  Southampton,  bowing,  than  the  Prin- 
cess need  desire :  if  she  equals  her  Majesty  some  years 
hence,  it  will  be  more,  I  will  be  bold  to  say,  than  any  other 
princess  on  earth  will  do  !  "  Pity  that  this  well-turned 
piece  of  flattery,  adroitly  administered  by  the  friend  of 
Shakespeare,  was  thrown  away.  But  the  harmony  of  that 
joyous  evening  was  broken  soon  after.  The  Queen's 
temper  became  exasperated ;  probably  too  much  respect 
was  paid  to  the  Earl  of  Mar.  A  general  quarrel  ensued, 
and  the  complimentary  Lord  Southampton  was  handed  off 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


11 


to  the  Tower  for — impertinence  to  the  Queen.  With  true 
Scottish  caution,  the  Erskine  maid  of  honour  ignores  all 
reminiscences  of  this  fracas.  # 

Sully,  it  seems,  had  privately  and  mysteriously  insinuated 
ideas  of  the  marriage  of  Elizabeth  and  the  Dauphin,  on 
condition  that  King  James  joined  with  Henry  IV.  and  all 
the  Protestant  princes — among  whom,  by  the  way,  the 
Elector  Palatine,  afterwards  her  husband,  was  especially 
named ^ — in  a  war  against  the  House  of  Austria.  But 
that  great  and  rather  prudish  statesman  never  intended, 
or  even  imagined  it  possible,  that  the  insular  monarch 
could  think  of  joking  about  it  with  his  little  children  and 
their  attendants,  and,  still  worse,  giving  jovial  healths 
concerning  the  same  when  dining  at  Greenwich  Palace, 
in  wine  which  he  had  omitted  to  dilute  with  water ! 
Now,  even  in  these  times  of  temperance,  English  gentle- 
men must  laugh  at  being  expected,  by  any  French  am- 
bassador, to  drink  healths  in  weak  wine  and  water,  to 
which  wholesome  potation,  we  are  grieved  to  acknowledge, 
Elizabeth's  royal  sire  was  by  no  means  addicted.  So 
Sully  tells ^  his  friend,  Eoi  Henri,  in  a  most  amusing  letter, 
the  crabbishness  of  his  remarks  on  the  want  of  reserve 
regarding  the  marriages  of  the  four  royal  infants  making 
it,  unconsciously  to  himself,  very  humorous.  The  great 
French  statesman  was  withal  much  annoyed  by  the  per- 
versity of  Queen  Anne,  who  made  no  secret  of  the  good 
understanding  she  had  come  to  with  the  Spanish  ambas- 
sador, d'Aremberg,  concerning  the  marriage  of  his  young 
King,  Philip  HI.,  with  her  Elizabeth,  and  of  her  Prince  of 
Wales  with  his  Infanta.  I  told  King  James,  at  dinner, 
that  the  Spaniards  were  notorious  for  offering  their  Infanta 
to  all  the  princes  upon  earth  merely  to  delude  them,''  writes 
Sully  to  Henry  IV.'' 

The  Duke  of  Lerma  then  proposed  to  the  English  ambas- 
sador a  design  of  giving  this  Infanta  to  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
and  demanding  the  Princess  Elizabeth  for  the  Prince  of 

^  (Euvres  de  Sully. 

« Ibid.—Letter  to  Henri  Quatre,  i,  1 31,  1 32.  ^  Ibid. 


12 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


Piedmont,  first  cousin  to  the  young  King  of  Spain,  who 
had  been  brought  up  in  his  court.  The  young  EHzabeth 
heard  this  proposal  discussed  between  her  parents  with 
terror,  owing  to  the  probability  of  her  being  sent  to  Spain 
for  education,  if  it  had  been  accepted.  A  different  course 
of  education  was,  however,  soon  resolved  on  by  her  father, 
and  Elizabeth  had  once  more  to  break  the  ties  of  affection 
she  had  formed  with  the  lady  in  charge  over  her.  Lady 
Kildare  was  dismissed,  and  the  Princess  was  consigned 
wholly  to  the  care  of  Lord  and  Lady  Harrington :  the  home 
intended  for  her  during  her  education  was  their  seat  of 
Combe  Abbey. 

Lady  Kildare  was  relinquished  by  her  royal  pupil  with- 
out great  demonstration  of  regret,  but  the  parting  with  the 
dear  cousin,  Lady  Arabella  Stuart,  although  that  lady's  state 
functions,  as  first  governess,  were  to  be  resumed  at  all  vaca- 
tions allowed  the  Princess,  was  something  tragical.  As  for 
her  separation  from  the  Prince,  force  was  required  to  effect 
it,  for  his  sister  hung  about  his  neck,  exclaiming,  "  No,  I 
can  never  leave  my  dear  Henry  !  The  fear  of  dis- 
pleasing the  King  and  Queen  put  an  end  to  the  lamenta- 
tions that  ensued  when  her  arms  were  unclasped  from  her 
brother's  neck ;  and  the  Lady  Elizabeth  was  forthwith  con- 
signed to  the  keeping  of  her  new  guardians.  Finally  she  set 
out  with  them  to  Combe  Abbey,  with  as  much  composure  as 
could  be  expected.  Several  young  ladies,  about  her  own 
age,  attended  her  thither  ;  they  were  to  share  her  education 
in  the  retirement  of  that  Warwickshire  Elysium.  Some  of 
their  names  are  of  historical  note,  and  will  be  remembered, 
as  the  Erskine  maid  of  honour  thus  enumerates  them, 
"  There  were,''  she  says,  the  Ladies  Dorothy  and  Lucy 
Percy,^  daughters  of  the  Earl  of  Northumberland" — the  last 
became  afterwards  the  notorious  Countess  of  Carlisle;  ''then 
there  was  the  Lady  Frances  Devereux,  daughter  to  the  un- 
fortunate Earl  of  Essex,  and  Lady  Elizabeth  Hume,  and 
Lady  Charlotte  Bruce,  one  the  daughter  of  the  Earl  of 

*  Their  fatlier  was  an  ultra-Papist,  and  these  children  were  most  likely 
brought  up  Protestants  perforce.  He  was  deeply  involved  in  the  Gun- 
powder Plot. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


13 


Dunbar,  and  the  other  of  the  Earl  of  Elgin,  two  of  the 
King's  Scottish  favourites.  I  need  not  name  myself,  for  I 
had  never  left  her/' 

It  may  surprise  our  readers  to  find  that  King  James  had 
a  very  great  dislike  to  pedantry  in  man  or  woman  ;  and, 
though  his  saying  has  been  turned  against  himself,  was 
wont  to  observe — That  even  a  man  who  was  vain  and 
foolish,  was  made  more  so  by  learning  ;  and  as  for  women, 
whom  he  deemed  to  be  all  naturally  addicted  to  vanity,  where 
learning  did  one  good  it  did  twenty  harm/'  He  therefore 
charged  Lord  Harrington  not  to  attempt  to  make  the 
Princess  a  Greek  or  Latin  scholar  (as  had  been  usual  for 
women  of  high  birth  in  the  last  century),  but  to  make  her 
truly  wise,  by  instructing  her  thoroughly  in  her  religious 
duties,  and  by  giving  her  general  useful  information,  and, 
withal,  sound  knowledge  of  history.  Truly  his  Majesty 
could  not  have  pitched  upon  a  pmperer  tutor  for  his  daugh- 
ter than  Lord  Harrington,  who  had  studied  both  mankind 
and  books.  He  was  at  once  a  sincere  Christian  and  fine 
gentleman ;  learned  without  pedantry.  He  knew  that 
amusements  were  necessary  for  young  people  ;  he  therefore 
procured  for  her  and  her  young  train  all  that  the  country 
could  afford ;  yet,  at  the  same  time,  contrived  to  intermix 
them  with  something  useful  and  estimable.  In  order  to 
raise  her  above  all  that  was  trifling  and  childish,  he  culti- 
vated her  taste  for  the  liberal  arts.  Masters  for  music, 
dancing,  and  painting,  were  soon  provided  and  pensioned, 
to  attend  on  and  instruct  the  Lady  Elizabeth  and  her  little 
court.'' 

The  first  days  after  our  arrival  at  Combe  Abbey  were 
spent  in  admiring  the  beauties  of  the  place,  which  made  so 
great  an  impression  on  me  that  I  still  remember  it  well 
enough  to  give  you  ^  some  account  of  it,  which  will  amuse 
me,  I  am  sure,  as  the  recollections  of  our  infancy  always  do, 
and  1  hope  they  will  not  tire  you.  The  house  stood  rather 
low,  as  most  old  ones  do — had  a  pleasing  though  not  exten- 
sive prospect.    Under  the  window  of  our  Princess's  apart- 

1  The  lady,  narrating  these  reminiscences  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia's 
education,  evidently  addresses  them  to  her  children  or  grandchildren. 


14 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


ment  was  a  parterre  filled  with  the  greatest  variety  of 
flowers  that  ever  I  saw.  Beyond,  a  lawn  of  beautiful  ver-^ 
dure,  peculiar  to  this  country,  relieved  the  eye,  fatigued  with 
the  dazzling  colours  of  the  flowers.  The  view  was  termi- 
nated by  a  cascade  falling  into  a  canal,  that  looked  a  river, 
which  seemed  to  lose  itself  in  a  fine  wood  on  the  right  hand ; 
this  wood  circled  round  from  the  other  side  of  the  house. 
We  could  go  through  it,  in  the  shade,  all  the  way  to  the 
park,  which  was  a  very  fine  one.  Through  the  park  were 
many  gravelled  paths,  which  made  walking  very  agreeable 
in  winter.  In  summer  every  part  of  it  was  delightful,  and 
throughout  the  year  you  might  have  shade  and  shelter  in 
your  walks,  with  some  prospects,  whichever  way  the  wind 
blew  or  the  sun  shone. 

"  Nothing  took  the  fancy  of  the  Princess  so  much  as  a 
little  wilderness  at  the  end  of  the  park,  on  the  banks  of  a 
large  brook,  which  ran  winding  along,  and  formed  in  one 
a  large  irregular  basin,  or  rather  a  small  lake,  in  which  was 
an  island  covered  with  an  underwood  of  flowering  plants 
and  trees — so  well  chosen,  that  for  nine  months  in  the  year 
it  presented  continual  spring.  The  wilderness  and  the  island 
my  young  mistress  begged  to  have  the  disposal  of,  which 
was  granted  with  great  pleasure  by  the  noble  owners.  My 
Princess  was  fond  of  all  animals,  especially  of  the  feathered 
kind.  She  never  heard  or  read  of  any  bird,  rare  for  its 
beauty  or  curious  qualities,  but  she  wished  to  possess  it,  or 
at  least  to  see  it.  As  she  was  much  beloved,  every  one  who 
knew  her  tastes  brought  her  creatures  of  various  kinds.'' 
The  odd  angle  of  the  park,  over  which  Lady  Harrington 
permitted  her  to  reign,  formed  a  home  for  her  animals ; 
concerning  the  welfare  of  which  she  had  experienced,  now 
and  then,  the  anxieties  that  a  good  mistress,  however  young 
she  may  be,  must  feel  occasionally  for  those  looking  up  to 
her  for  comfort.  "  Lord  Harrington,  who  wished  for  her  the 
wisdom  of  Solomon — and  indeed  she  was  in  a  fair  way  of 
knowing  all  that  grows,  from  the  hyssop  on  the  wall  to  the 
cedars  that  were  planted  under  her  inspection — was  pleased 
to  find  her  genuine  delight  in  the  inanimate  as  well  as  the 
animate  creation.  The  private  garden  and  greenhouse  were 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


15 


as  well  stored  with  exotic  plants  as  her  aviary  and  mena- 
gerie were  with  happy  living  creatures.  Lord  Harrington 
never  missed  any  opportunity  of  raising  her  mind  to  the 
Creator  of  all.  If  she  admired  a  bird  or  a  flower,  she  was 
taught  to  thank  and  to  adore  the  goodness  of  Almighty 
God,  '  who  so  clothes  the  grass  of  the  field/  '  and  without 
whose  permission  not  a  sparrow  falleth  ; '  '  who  feedeth  the 
young  ravens,'  and  '  who  made  every  tree  and  every  herb 
to  bear  seed  after  its  kind.'  If  a  butterfly  or  a  glow-worm 
took  the  eye  of  the  young  Elizabeth,  some  account  was 
given  her  of  its  nature,  and  of  the  wonderful  changes  most 
of  them  go  through ;  and  she  was  shown  these  and  smaller 
insects  through  the  microscope,  which  had  been  very  lately 
invented  by  Dribill,  a  Dutchman.  A  very  frequent  and 
favourite  entertainment  was  this  to  us  all/' 

Such  is  the  memorial  of  the  first  three  years  of  Elizabeth 
Stuart's  life  in  the  Happy  Valley,  kept  by  the  Pekuah  of 
the  party.  For  who  can  doubt  that  the  original  idea  of  the 
charming  tale  of  Rasselas  arose  from  recollections  of  the 
education  of  Elizabeth  Stuart,  which  must  have  been  rife 
in  the  mid-counties  when  Samuel  Johnson  was  a  boy;  for 
he  was  born  within  a  few  miles  of  the  Happy  Valley  of 
Combe  Abbey,  where  the  King's  daughter,  sometimes  visited 
by  her  beloved  brother,  was  enclosed,  with  her  juvenile 
court,  from  the  world — a  world  in  which  the  Princess  and 
her  fair-faced  maids,  Lucy  Percy,  with  the  fascinating 
Dorothea,  her  sister,  were  to  play  such  remarkable  parts. 
Before  they  left  Combe  Abbey  there  was  evidence  enough 
that  they  longed  to  rush  into  the  world  of  action  and  of 
pleasure.  Yet  before  ever  it  had  done  with  them,  we  can 
answer  full  well  that  one,  and  she  the  principal  of  the  bright 
group,  vainly  wished  to  rest  her  aching  brow  and  wearied 
mind  in  that  English  Elysium  of  her  youth,  to  which  there 
was  no  return,  as  in  the  Abyssinian  apologue. 

There  are  many  corroborations  extant  of  the  exactitude 
of  the  young  maid  of  honour's  memoir.  Just  when  Eliza- 
beth was  ten  years  old,  a  portrait  was  painted  of  her,  quite 
unaccountable  without  the  hint  given  of  her  aviary  and 
menagerie  at  Combe  Abbey.    She  has  a  monkey  and  a  dog 


16 


ELIZABETH  STUART, 


at  her  feet,  a  love-bird  in  her  hand,  a  macaw  on  one  shoul»- 
der,  and  a  parrot  on  the  other.^  It  became  a  fashion  thus 
to  paint  children,  and  many  portraits  occur  in  the  galleries 
of  the  old  English  nobility  and  gentry  of  children  surrounded 
by  birds.^ 

When  the  alarming  autumn  of  1607  arrived,  the  Happy 
Valley  of  Combe  Abbey  was  nearly  frighted  from  its  peace 
and  propriety,  like  the  rest  of  the  Island,  by  the  astounding 
plot  that  was  meant  to  deprive  Great  Britain,  at  one  fell 
blow,  of  King,  Queen,  Prince,  Peers,  and  Parliament. 

Robert  Catesby,  Esq.,  one  of  the  accomplices  in  this  plot, 
a  landed  proprietor  of  ancient  family,  and  Papist  to  extre- 
mity, lived  within  a  few  miles  of  Combe  Abbey,  and  in- 
vited all  the  gentlemen  of  the  mid-counties  round  to  a  great 
hunting-match  on  his  property,  which  was  to  come  off  the 
first  days  of  November  1607.  A  rising-ground  on  the  Combe 
Abbey  estate  entirely  commanded  the  view  of  Catesby's 
heath,  where  the  hunt  was  to  meet.  The  Lady  Elizabeth  and 
her  train  of  nymphs,  being  exceedingly  addicted  to  the  old 
savage  propensities  of  female  life  in  the  British  Islands, 
reckoned  excessively  on  viewing  the  sport  from  their  own 
domain.  We  do  not  find  that  hunting  was  especially  re- 
commended among  the  educational  exercises  allowed  by 
Lord  Harrington  ;  yet  the  whole  bevy  were  anxious  to 
have  a  peep  at  the  pleasure  about  which  their  fathers  and 
mothers,  from  the  King  and  Queen,  the  peer  and  peeress,  down 
to  the  simple  squire  and  dame,  talked  perpetually.  An  adven- 
ture occurred  the  preceding  day,  November  4,  which,  how- 
ever seriously  related  by  the  writer  of  theErskine  memoir,  we 
cannot  help  thinking  was  a  contrivance  to  keep  the  Princess 
and  her  young  ladies  within  the  safe  precincts  of  their 
Happy  Valley.  As  they  were  all  walking  to  the  Princess's 
farm,  which  they  visited  every  day  at  recreation-time,  they 
heard  the  voices  of  men  outside  the  park-fence.  The 
Princess  being  named,  the  v/hole  fair  bevy  inside  drew  up 

^  Rolls  MS.,  for  payment  of  the  painter. 

2  At  Sizergh  Castle,  Westmoreland,  the  seat  of  Walter  Strickland,  Esq., 
two  children  of  Sir  Thomas  Strickland,  whose  portraits  occur  at  the  same 
period,  are  painted  surrounded  by  birds  in  an  aviary. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


17 


to  listen  to  the  dialogue.^  Why  the  men  persisted  In  it 
when  so  many  female  tongues  were  on  the  other  side  of  the 
park-pales,  is  not  satisfactorily  explained.  Perhaps  the 
plotters  were  deaf,  although  it  seems  they  were  not  dumb  ; 
for voice  the  first''  said  to  voice  the  second/' "  that  he  could 
easily  get  in  at  the  neighbouring  gate,  and,  with  the  aid 
of  a  dozen  men,  carry  off  the  Princess,  while  the  rest 
caught  her  attendants/'  There  is  no  historical  record  of 
the  alarm  which  first  impelled  Lord  Harrington  to  retreat 
with  the  Princess  and  her  household  behind  the  walls  of  the 
neighbouring  city  of  Coventry,  but  thither  they  went,  vacat- 
ing Combe  Abbey  but  two  hours  before  Catesby,  at  the 
head  of  an  insurgent  band  of  Papists,  came  in  search  of 
them  for  the  purpose  of  seizing  the  Princess,  and  proclaim- 
ing her  Queen,  by  the  style  of  Elizabeth  II. 

The  civic  force  of  Coventry  turned  out  to  guard  the  Prin- 
cess, the  day  she  became  the  guest  of  their  municipality, 
November  7, 1607.^  Lord  Harrington,  when  he  had  placed 
his  charge,  her  train,  and  the  helpless  ones  of  his  own 
family,  in  the  "  safe  harbour  of  Coventry,"  went  with  Ihe 
posse  comitatis  to  hunt  down  the  insurgent  Roman  Catholics, 
who  stood  at  bay,  commanded  by  Catesby,  at  Holbeach 
House,  where  their  defence  was  most  desperate.^  Catesby 
was  killed.  No  notice  exists  of  the  date  of  Elizabeth's  re- 
turn to  Combe  Abbey,  unless  that  of  Lord  Harrington's 
well-known  letter  may  be  taken.^  The  Princess  and  her 
preceptor  had  both  been  ill,  as  he  expressly  says: — 

"  I  am  not  yet  recovered  from  the  fever  occasioned  by  these  disturbances. 
I  went  with  Sir  Fulke  Greville  to  alarm  the  neighbourhood  and  surprise  the 

The  anecdote  is  detached  from  the  narrative,  and  appended  to  the  end 
of  the  volume,  as  the  first  alarming  incident  that  befell  Elizabeth  Stuart  in 
the  course  of  her  adventurous  life. 

2  The  date  of  the  city-book  for  giving  out  the  arms  is  supposed  to  be 
that  of  her  arrival. 

^  The  Digby  pedigree  claims  for  John  Digby  of  Coleshill  the  credit  of 
carrying  from  Lord  Harrington  the  news  to  King  James  of  the  intended 
insurrection  of  the  gunpowder  conspirators,  most  of  whom  were  his  relatives 
and  friends  ;  for  which  service  the  King  made  Digby  one  of  his  carvers,  and 
gentleman  of  the  privy  chamber,  and  finally  Earl  of  Bristol.  This  com- 
mencement of  life  casts  a  new  and  strange  light  on  the  character  of  this 
eccentric  personage,  when  his  career  is  historically  considered. 

^  January  6,  1605-6.    It  is  possible  the  date  in  the  Nugce  is  wrong. 
you  VIII.  B 


18 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


villains  who  came  to  Holbeach — was  out  five  days,  in  peril  of  death,  and  in 
fear  for  the  great  charge  I  left  at  home.  Winter  [one  of  the  conspirators] 
hath  confessed  their  design  to  surprise  the  Princess  at  my  house,  if  their 
wickedness  had  taken  place  at  London.  Some  of  them  say  she  would  have 
been  proclaimed  queen.  Her  Highness  doth  often  say,  '  What  a  queen 
should  I  have  been  by  this  means  !  I  had  rather  been  with  my  royal  father 
in  the  Parliament  House  than  wear  his  crown  on  such  condition  ! '  This 
poor  lady  hath  not  yet  recovered  the  surprise,  and  is  very  ill  and  troubled." 

The  poor  lady  was  only  in  her  tenth  year. 

Many  of  Elizabeth's  letters  are  preserved  of  a  date  pre- 
vious to  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  but  not  one  worthy  of  quota- 
tion, being  bad  imitations  of  the  scholastic  performances  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  and  Edward  VI.  One,  written  in  French, 
to  her  brother  Henry,  about  this  alarming  time,  expresses 
with  simplicity  natural  feelings  of  thankfulness,  although 
clothed  in  a  foreign  language  :  ^  I  doubt  not  you  have  given 
thanks  to  the  good  God  for  the  deliverance  He  has  vouch- 
safed us,  and  still  do  so  :  for  my  part,  I  wish  to  join  my 
prayers  with  yours,  and  say  with  you,  '  If  our  God  be  with 
us,  who  can  be  against  us  ?  In  His  keeping  I  will  not 
dread  what  man  can  do.' 

Frederic  V.,  Elector  Palatine,  then  in  his  tenth  year, 
brought  up  a  Calvinist  by  his  guardian,  was  pursuing  a 
theological  and  controversial  education  at  Sedan,  with  the 
view  of  one  day  heading  the  Calvinist  League,  and  esta- 
blishing that  branch  of  Protestantism  from  the  mouth  to  the 
sources  of  the  Ehine.  A  letter  penned  by  this  juvenile 
potentate  was  sent  to  James  I.,  congratulating  him  on  his 
escape  from  the  wicked  conspiracy,''  which  he  expresses  a 
firm  conviction  proceeded  ^'  from  the  direct  agency  of  Anti- 
christ/' ^  The  letter  proved  the  first  step  to  Elizabeth's 
future  union  with  this  young  prince. 

A  little  time  afterwards,  her  household  was  extended  and 
enlarged,  and  Lord  Harrington's  allowance  for  her  enter- 
tainment and  that  of  her  household  was  increased  from  the 
sum  of  £1500  per  annum  to  ^£2500.  She  was  permitted, 
in  the  ensuing  summer,  to  stay  with  her  mother  at  Green- 
wich Palace  during  the  visit  of  her  uncle,  Christian  IV.  of 

^  Harleian  Collection,  quoted  by  Miss  Benger. 
^  Miss  Benger's  Memoirs  of  Elizabeth  Stuart. 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


19 


Denmark.  There  she  had  the  pleasure  of  association  with 
her  brother  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales ;  and  after  their  part- 
ing, once  more  their  correspondence  was  renewed :  little 
billets  in  all  the  languages  they  studied,  constantly  tra- 
velled between  Ham  House,  the  residence  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  and  Combe  Abbey.  Elizabeth's  were  fantastically 
knotted  with  floss-silk,  often  some  of  its  threads  were  en- 
twined among  the  wax  with  which  the  epistle  was  sealed, 
and  the  name  of  Elizabeth  was  thus  wrought. 

After  returning  to  Combe  Abbey,  Elizabeth's  studies 
proceeded,  with  the  assistance  of  masters,  on  a  more 
extensive  scale.  Writing-masters  were  elaborate  artists 
in  those  days,  retaining,  by  their  skill  in  flourishes,  some 
of  the  importance  the  art  had  lost  since  printing  had  super- 
seded the  conventual  illuminations.  Flourished  angels' 
heads,  adorned  with  elaborate  wings,  flourished  swans,  all 
the  beasts  and  birds  of  Noah's  ark,  and  the  ark  itself,  were 
often  executed  by  these  artists,  and  impertinently  intro- 
duced into  deeds  and  papers  where  they  had  no  possible 
business.  But  while  disliking  the  nuisance  of  these  super- 
fluities, it  is  but  justice  to  observe,  that  this  skill  in  flourished 
penmanship  must  have  greatly  facilitated  the  higher  picto- 
rial art  by  boldness  in  sketching,  and  the  declension  in 
pictorial  art  from  the  seventeenth  century  has  perhaps 
been  occasioned  by  the  cessation  of  the  works  of  these 
pen-delineators.  One  of  them,  Mr  Beauchamp,  that  teach- 
eth  her  Grace  the  Lady  Elizabeth  to  write,  was  paid 
for  gilt  paper,  ink,  vellum  skins,  and  paper  books  for  her 
Grace's  service,  £1^  9s.  8d.^"  Dr  Bull,  a  celebrated 
sacred  composer,  or  rather  perhaps  editor,  of  the  earlier 
strains  of  the  Church,  received  £40  per  annum  for  in- 
struction given  the  Lady  Elizabeth,  who  performed  on  vir- 
ginals and  lute.  The  household  was  amplified,  and  some 
of  the  young  companions  enumerated  by  the  Erskine  me- 
moir gave  place  to  others,  as  the  niece  of  Lord  Harrington, 
Anne  Dudley,  afterwards  the  principal  friend  and  favourite 
of  the  Princess.  This  young  lady  was  the  daughter  of  the 
deeply- impoverished  Lord  Sutton,  and  Theodosia,  sister 

Lord  Harrington's  Accounts,  Rolls  MS.  Records. 


20 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


of  Lord  Harrington.     Lucy  Harrington,  tlie  daughter 
of  Lord  Harrington,  was  considerably  older  than  the  Prin- 
cess.   She  was  one  of  the  most  accomplished  and  learned 
young  women  in  England,  but  fantastic,  affected,  and 
extravagantly  profuse  in  expenditure.    It  is  to  be  feared 
that  she  imbued  the  Princess  with  no  little  of  the  latter 
ill  quality,  notwithstanding  the  earnest  manner  in  which 
it  will  be  found  that  Lord  Harrington  laboured  to  eradi- 
cate this  dangerous  tendency  from  the  mind  of  his  royal 
charge.    It  is  very  clear  that  Lord  Harrington  took  for 
his  model  of  tuition  the  plans  of  Sir  David  Lyndsay  of 
the  J\Iount,  when  he  formed  the  mind  of  James  V. ;  and  in 
detailing  his  course  of  instruction,  it  is  needful  again  to  have 
recourse  to  the  contemporary  narrative  written  by  the 
Erskine  lady,  who  thus  describes  the  manner  in  which 
knowledge  was  communicated  by  Lord  Harrington  to  the 
young  Princess  and  her  youthful  train  of  noble  atten- 
dants : — 

"  I  may  perhaps  sometimes  misplace  the  time  of  Lord 
Harrington's  instructions,  but  I  remember  very  well  that, 
before  we  left  Combe  Abbey,  Copernicus's  system  of  our 
world's  diurnal  and  annual  motion  round  the  sun  was  quite 
famihar  to  us,  though  he  surprised  us  all  very  much  at  first, 
when  he  told  us  that  the  sun  stood  still,  and  that  it  was  the 
earth  that  moved  :  we  all  thought  that  he  was  laughing  at 
us.    Yet  Lord  Harrington  soon  proved  to  us,  by  various 
demonstrations,  that  such  was  fact.    He  told  us  that  our 
not  perceiving  the  earth's  motion  was  no  reason  against  it, 
since  to  people  in  a  boat  it  is  the  shores  that  seem  to  move. 
And  though  Moses  and  the  other  sacred  writers  mention 
the  sun  as  moving,  and  the  earth  as  standing  still,  nothing 
contrary  to  Scriptural  truth  need  be  inferred  from  those 
modes  of  expression,  which  were  merely  used  as  accommo- 
dated to  people's  perception.'' 

Effects  visible  and  present  were  mentioned,  without  going 
back  to  the  hidden  causes — just  as  we,  to  this  hour,  use  the 
terms  sunrise  "  and  "  sunset."  All  languages  would  have 
to  be  pulled  to  pieces  if  Scripture  were  blamed  regarding 
such  expressions.    Voltaire,  who  was  certainly  the  loudest 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


21 


if  not  the  first  wrangler  against  Holy  Writ  on  account  of 
the  sun  standhig  still/'  would  have  written  a  folio  in  de- 
fence of  the  pretty  French  phrases  descriptive  of  the  return 
and  withdrawal  of  light,  as  apparent  to  the  human  eye ;  yet 
his  diurnal,    coiccher  de  soleil is  far  more  unphilosophical 
than  the  Scriptural  term  for  miraculous  prolongation  of  light. 
We  see,  in  the  foregoing  passage,  there  were,  even  in  the 
first  years  of  the  seventeenth  century,  scientific  pedants  who 
carped  at  Scripture  because  it  does  not  leave  its  higher 
spiritual  purposes  to  analyse  the  arcana  of  the  chemist's 
laboratory,  the  dissecting-table,  the  observatory,  or  the  geo- 
logical museum.    The  benevolent  sage  ,  of  Combe  Abbey 
foresaw  the  hard  attacks  which  the  Christian  belief  of  his 
auditors  would  meet,  and  prepared  them  with  the  shield  of 
liberal  good-sense  to  interpret,  not  according  to  the  mere 
letter  which  kills,''  but  according  to  the  spirit  which 
vivifies.   And  his  righteous  way  led  to  good  results.  Eliza- 
beth Stuart,  in  all  her  trials,  never  lost  sight  of  her  Scrip- 
tural and  Christian  hope,  whilst  her  daughter  and  her 
granddaughter,  bewildered  and  obfuscated  with  the  atoms 
of  Descartes  and  of  Leibnitz,  lived  and  died  in  search  of  a 
religion. 

There  were  stated  hours,"  resumes  our  Erskine  memoir, 
for  the  different  masters  to  give  their  lessons  to  the  Prin- 
cess and  her  little  court.  No  partiality  was  allowed  to  be 
shown  to  her  above  the  rest ;  nor  was  she  ever  told, 
although  it  was  quite  true,  that  she  excelled  all  the  children 
of  her  age  in  quickness  of  comprehension  in  whatsoever  she 
was  taught,  which  was  everything  that  a  great  princess 
ought  to  know.  To  make  the  study  of  history  more  agree- 
able to  her.  Lord  Harrington  had  first  begun  by  showing 
portraits  of  all  the  sovereigns  that  had  reigned  in  Europe, 
with  their  wives  and  descendants ;  little  maps  of  their  do- 
minions were  annexed  to  the  groups  of  portraits.  Often 
prints  or  drawings,  representing  the  chief  occurrences  and 
actions  of  their  lives,  were  laid  before  her,  when  explana- 
tions were  given  by  oral  relation,  or  by  reading  amusing 
narrations  of  them  from  the  best  historians.  The  chrono- 
logy relative  to  each  other  was  always  very  carefully 


22 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


marked  on  each  parcel,  which  were  kept  in  packs  like  cards" — 
we  may  suppose  for  the  lack  of  the  invention  of  portfolios. 
"  The  Princess,  and  all  of  us  together,  by  way  of  play,  used 
to  mix  them,  and  then  earnestly  to  go  to  work  in  the 
arrangement  of  all  of  them  in  their  right  chronological 
order,  always  beginning  with  the  kings  and  queens  of 
Great  Britain,  north  and  south,  and  then  we  placed  in  due 
order  all  who  had  been  cotemporaneous.  Often  our  draw- 
ing-master came  and  drew  under  our  eyes  little  historical 
pieces  from  the  Scriptures,  and  in  the  same  way  from  other 
history,  if  our  readings  had  greatly  delighted  us  with  some 
particular  passages.  I  remember  one  that  will  give  you  an 
idea  of  the  rest :  it  was  the  meeting  of  Henry  VIII.  of 
England  with  Francis  I.  near  Calais.  Anne  BuUen  was 
made  a  conspicuous  figure  among  the  attendants  of  that 
celebrated  Queen  of  Navarre,  sister  to  the  French  king. 
Henry  VIII.  seemed  looking  towards  Anne  while  compli- 
menting with  the  King  and  Queen  of  France.  The  Em- 
peror Charles  V.  we  placed  in  a  corner  frowning  at  the 
meeting ;  and  we  set  up  separately  King  James  V.  of  Scot- 
land, taking  leave  of  his  mother.  Queen  Margaret,  on  the 
banks  of  Tweed,  when  she  was  coming  to  visit  her  brother 
Henry  VIII.,  bringing  her  infant,  the  Lady  Margaret 
Douglas,  with  her.'' 

Geography  was  taught  in  the  same  amusing  and  com- 
prehensible manner. 

"  There  was  one  of  the  best  telescopes  at  Combe  Abbey 
that  had  yet  been  made ;  it  was  little  more  than  fifty  years 
since  they  were  generally  known,''  says  our  author.  "  Look- 
ing through  it  at  the  moon  and  stars  was  always  a  great 
entertainment  to  us,  permitted  by  Lord  Harrington,  when 
requested,  rather  as  a  favour,  but  never  pressed  upon 
us.  Lord  Harrington,  who  was  a  good  astronomer,  rea- 
soned often  on  the  folly  of  astrology,  convincing  us  that 
God  had  created  His  stars  for  nobler  purposes  than  to 
dance  attendance  upon  any  single  human  creature.  You 
may  think  that  all  this  was  above  the  capacity  of  children, 
yet  they  are  capable  of  understanding,  at  a  much  earlier 
age  than  is  generally  supposed,  facts  more  difficult  of 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


23 


comprehension  than  these/'  The  long  hard  words  in  which 
information  used  to  be  conveyed  to  children  were  incom- 
prehensible to  them,  not  the  information  itself.  Lord  Har- 
rington was  indeed  in  advance  of  the  greatest  persons  of 
his  era  when  he  threw  deserved  scorn  on  astrology.  Do 
we  not  remember  La  Brosse,  the  astrologer  of  Sully,  by 
whose  advice  he  attached  himself  to  the  fortunes  of  Henry 
of  Navarre?  Then  the  Great  Henry  himself,  who,  just  at 
the  time  when  Harrington  was  weeding  this  noxious  and 
paralysing  superstition  from  the  mind  of  the  royal  child 
whom  James  1.  had  given  to  his  tuition,  was  shuddering 
at  his  foretold  fate,  and  listening  for  the  supernatural  sounds 
of  the  assassin's  steps  seeking  him  in  his  Louvre." 
As  for  Wallenstein  and  his  little  grey  Seni,  the  astrologer 
who  always  travelled  in  his  military  train,  Seni  was 
then  learning  the  abracadabra  of  his  gibberish  in  some 
conjuror's  booth  as  lad-of-all-work,  and  Wallenstein  was 
cadet  in  the  Imperial  Guard  of  Honour.  Far  far  advanced 
before  his  era  was  the  sage  of  Combe  Abbey.  Again,  the 
effects  of  his  tuition  were  practically  shown  in  the  character 
of  the  Princess,  although  she  was  not  always  proof  against 
that  shuddering  fear  of  communion  with  the  invisible, 
which  seems  an  original  sensation  implanted  in  the  human 
mind ;  yet  she  was  above  the  low  superstitions  of  en- 
couraging fortune-tellers  and  horoscope-mongers  such  as 
we  have  quoted  against  the  greatest  of  the  world's  favourite 
great  men.  By  no  chance  have  we  found  that  any  of  the 
noxious  predicting  crew  who  swarmed  in  her  century  gained 
influence  over  her  clear  mind. 

The  routine  of  the  day  at  Combe  Abbey,''  began  with 
family  prayer,  short,  plain,  and  impressive.^  The  chaplain 
read  the  lessons  for  the  day,  and  expounded  any  difficult 
passage,  and  never  failed  giving  useful  instructions  on 
some  essential  point  of  Christianity,  represented  to  us  in 
its  true  colours  as  tending  to  promote  peace  and  happi- 
ness here  and  hereafter.  At  the  time  I  am  speaking  of, 
my  Princess  enjoyed  perfect  peace  and  tranquillity  ;  part 
of  the  day  was  always  spent  out  of  doors,  the  utmost 
^  Life  of  Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Bohemia,  by  one  of  her  Ladies. 


24 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


care  being  taken  of  her  health,  not  to  hurt  it,  as  is  too 
often  the  case  with  princes,  and  lately  with  herself,  by 
too  great  delicacy.  On  the  contrary,  at  Combe  Abbey 
she  was  by  degrees  accustomed  to  air  and  exercise  in 
all  weathers,  and  to  rise  early.  The  evenings  were  gene- 
rally occupied  with  music  and  dancing.  Twice  every 
week  the  children  of  all  the  neighbouring  nobility  and 
gentry  were  admitted  to  her  company.  She  went  to  visit 
all  the  young  ladies  who  lived  within  reach,  and  was  taken 
to  see  everything  worth  seeing  in  the  county/' 

Many  indications  remain,  among  the  existing  accounts  of 
Lord  Harrington,  of  the  menagerie,  which  was  one  of  his 
royal  pupil's  delights ;  charges  are  entered  "  for  cotton  to 
make  her  monkeys'  beds,  and  for  joiners  who  made  her 
parrot-cages,  and  for  shearing  her  great  rough  dog,  and  for 
the  sustenance  of  an  Irish  wolf-hound,  all  belonging  to  her 
Grace."  When  the  Princess  visited  her  father's  palace  of 
Nonsuch  in  1612,  she  killed  a  doe,  and  paid,  it  seems,  her 
fee  to  the  keeper  of  the  Great  Park  there  of  twentypence, 
and  to  his  man,  who  brought  her  prey  to  Kew,  another  fee 
of  five  shillings. 

It  is  easy  to  trace,  in  the  memoir  left  by  Elizabeth's  early 
friend  and  companion,  indications  of  the  failing  which  beset 
her  almost  through  life  :  this  was  reckless  expenditure,  with 
constant  propensity  to  anticipate  her  income,  whatsoever 
that  might  be.  Lord  Harrington  exerted  all  his  energy  to 
suppress  it,  yet  was  perhaps  unaware  that  his  own  daughter 
at  Combe  Abbey,  likewise  the  royal  mother  of  his  pupil, 
when  she  was  with  her  at  vacations,  encouraged  the  evil 
more  than  he  could  keep  it  down.  Let  no  persons  look 
for  esteem  or  respect  among  their  contemporaries,  or  peace 
and  independence  in  this  world,  who  contract  such  a  vice. 

"  The  first  wishes  the  Princess  had  expressed  concerning 
the  wilderness  and  island  given  to  her  control  at  Combe 
Abbey,"  says  the  Erskine  memoir,  "  were  to  have  a  little 
thatched  building,  which  she  found  upon  it,  rendered  habit- 
able for  a  widow  and  her  children,  recommended  to  her  as 
fitting  recipients  of  her  charity  ;  but  she  meant  besides  to 
give  them  employment  in  the  care  of  her  fowls.    In  course 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


25 


of  time  this  cottage  was  new-fronted,  and  given  the  appear- 
ance of  a  hermitage  ;  adjacent  was  a  grotto,  the  adorning  of 
which  with  shells  and  moss  occupied  many  of  the  leisure 
hours  of  our  Princess.    In  all  this,  as  in  everything  else,  she 
showed  taste  above  her  years.  In  the  wood  on  the  other 
side  of  the  brook  she  had  had  her  aviary  made  like  that 
which  she  had  heard,''  no  doubt,  from  Lord  Harrington, 
that  Queen  Elizabeth  admired  at  the  late  Earl  of  Leices- 
ter's,^ in  Imitation  of  which  the  top  was  made  round,  with 
masses  of  coloured  glass  set  in  it,  that  looked  like  rough 
emeralds  and  rubies,  the  natural  product  of  the  rock  which 
formed  the  back  and  roof  of  the  aviary.    The  rest  was  en- 
closed with  a  net  of  gilt  wire  ;  within  were  many  bushes  for 
the  birds  to  perch  upon,  and  water  was  falling  continually 
from  the  artificial  rock  for  her  pretty  feathered  creatures  to 
drink  and  bathe  in  at  pleasure.  Recesses  were  likewise  made 
for  their  nests  in  the  rock  when  they  chose  to  build.  Near 
the  aviary  was  a  cottage  which  she  had  repaired  for  an  old 
man  who  had  the  care  of  the  birds.  Little  wooden  buildings, 
models  of  the  orders  of  architecture  which  Lord  Harrington 
thought  a  princess  ought  to  understand,  were  designed  by 
her,  and  served  to  enclose  some  stuffed  skins  of  those  birds 
too  tender  to  live  in  this  country,  as  the  Bird  of  Paradise 
and  humming-birds.    Adjoining  to  the  wood  were  some 
meadows,  afterwards  added  to  the  grounds,  which  our  Prin- 
cess used  to  call  '  her  territories,'  and  sometimes  '  her  fairy 
farm,'  from  its  being  stocked  with  the  smallest  kind  of 
cattle  that  the  islands  of  Jersey,  Shetland,  and  Man  could 
furnish.    The  children  of  a  neighbouring  farmer  had  the 
management  of  it  under  their  father's  direction.  The 
Princess  had   them  clothed  like  shepherdesses  in  dresses 
of  her  own  providing,  and  sufficient  salaries  were  allowed 
all  employed  in  this  manner  from  her  revenue  for  their 
comfortable  subsistence.     '  My  amusements,'  she  used  to 
say,  '  give  me  double  pleasure,  if  they  prove  beneficial  to 
my  fellow-creatures.'    These  sentiments  of  humanity  and 
benevolence  had  been  inculcated,  from  the  first  dawning  of 

*  The  ''late*'  Earl  of  Leicester  means  Robert  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester, 
Elizabeth's  favourite. 


26 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


reason,  into  the  mind  of  this  lovely  child.  The  King  made 
a  great  allowance  for  her  expenses,  and  a  certain  part  of  it 
he  left  wholly  at  her  own  disposal  for  her  charities,  pre- 
sents, and  pocket-money,  in  order  to  give  her  practical 
ideas  of  economy.  I  was  to  keep  her  accounts,  which 
Lord  Harrington  insisted  on  her  examining  every  month." 
By  this  we  find  the  Erskine  lady  was  the  keeper  of  the 
Princess's  privy  purse. 

"  For  a  great  while  the  Princess  spent  the  money  long 
before  the  next  quarter  was  due — nay,  sometimes  before 
the  first  week  was  out.  Once,  in  particular,  I  remember  she 
laid  it  all  out,  within  three  days  after  it  was  paid,  in  a  heap 
of  trinkets,  which  she  divided  among  us,  but  chiefly  between 
Lady  Lucy  Percy  ^  and  myself  Lord  Harrington  observed 
it  all  in  silence,  but  took  his  measures.  One  morning  soon 
after,  some  young  ladies  of  the  county  were  to  be  presented 
to  our  Princess :  previously  Lord  Harrington  brought  her 
some  pretty  curiosities,  which  were  to  be  purchased  at  a 
moderate  price ;  some  of  them  he  advised  her  to  distribute 
to  her  guests  ;  and,  moreover,  he  brought  her  a  statement  of 
distress  and  undeserved  misery  that  had  befallen  a  family  of 
respectability,  whom  he  thought  it  would  give  her  pleasure 
to  relieve.  Our  mistress  was  forced  to  own  that  her  money 
was  all  gone.  Then  Lord  Harrington  represented  to  her  the 
ill  effects  of  profuseness,  which  leaves  nothing  wherewith  to 
answer  the  calls  of  true  liberality.  He  repeated  to  her 
what  Cardinal  Ximenes  used  to  say  to  Queen  Isabel  of 
Spain,  and  afterwards  to  her  grandson  Charles  V., '  It  is 
becoming  for  princes  to  give,  and  to  give  much,  but  that 
it  must  not  be  without  discretion,  for  sovereigns  with  the 
largest  revenues  could  never  do  anything  great  without 
order  and  economy  in  their  finances.' 

"  The  Princess  owned  to  Lord  Harrington  that  she  had 
acted  foolishly,  but  begged  him  not  to  reject  the  petition  of 
the  decayed  family,  to  advance  out  of  her  next  quarter's 
allowance  sufficient  for  its  relief,  and  to  purchase  the  pre- 
sents he  deemed  necessary  for  the  young  ladies.  ^  No," 
replied  Lord  Harrington,  ^  I  will  do  no  such  thing;  it  is  a 

1  Afterwards  the  Countess  of  Carlisle. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


27 


bad  and  ruinous  custom  for  you  to  begin  anticipating  your 
income.  I  will  myself  assist  the  distressed  family,  since 
your  Highness  cannot  afford  it.  As  to  the  young  ladies,  you 
can  wait  to  give  them  presents  until  the  time  for  New 
Year's  gifts  comes  round.'  The  Princess  was  deeply  mor- 
tified. Lady  Lucy  Percy  and  I  asked  her  leave  to  return 
what  she  had  so  lavishly  purchased  for  us,  and  then  she 
would  have  wherewithal  to  bestow,  as  Lord  Harrington 
had  advised.  But  she  answered  with  some  scorn,  '  That 
she  never  took  back  aught  that  she  had  once  given  ! ' 
Then  recollecting  that  our  offer  proceeded  from  affection, 
she  burst  into  tears,  and  added,  '  that  she  would  do  any- 
thing that  such  friends  requested,  but  indeed  she  believed 
those  baubles  would  be  despised  by  the  persons  her  tutor 
wished  to  be  propitiated;  yet  if  Lady  Harrington  would  let 
her  have  them,  she  would  devote  some  of  her  jewels  to  that 
purpose.'  Of  course,  Lady  Harrington,  in  whose  care  the 
jewels  were  deposited,  would  not  hear  of  any  such  inten- 
tion. Just  then  the  Queen  happened  to  send  her  daughter 
some  trinkets,  which  she  was  allowed  to  give  away.  Not- 
withstanding, she  thought  the  time*  very  long  till  her  next 
quarterly  payment,  as  her  greatest  pleasure  was  to  give,  and 
she  had  to  put  off  or  refuse  all  petitioners  and  cases  of  dis- 
tress for  want  of  funds.  Lord  Harrington  observed  her 
embarrassment  with  the  utmost  satisfaction,  and  impressed 
on  her  mind,  that  to  do  good  by  fits  and  starts  was  of  little 
use.  He  recommended  her  to  determine  what  part  of  her  in- 
come ought  to  be  appropriated  to  charity,  and  having  fixed 
the  sum,  to  separate  it  from  the  rest,  and  religiously  devote 
it  to  the  service  of  God,  by  benefiting  in  the  best  possible 
manner  our  distressed  fellow-creatures.  Not  only  ought  we 
to  give,  but  to  give  well.  When  the  Princess  wished  to 
know  the  most  useful  charities.  Lord  Harrington  replied, 
'  schools.'  The  Princess  asked  him  eagerly,  'What  schools 
were  the  properest  ?'  '  Such,"  he  replied,  '  are  the  most 
beneficial  which  at  the  same  time  instruct  the  poor  and  igno- 
rant in  their  duties  to  God  and  man,  and  in  the  means  of 
gaining  an  honest  livelihood.' 

Lord  Harrington  well  knew  the  expense  and  difficulties 


28 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


of  an  industrial  school ;  the  one  thing  needful,  we  may  see, 
then  as  well  as  now.  A  common  school,  for  turning  the 
children  of  hardy  peasants  into  defective  and  discontented 
clerks,  by  penning  them  into  unhealthy  rooms,  with  un- 
wholesome leaves  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,  to  worry  their 
minds  eight  mortal  hours,  while  their  poor  bodies  were  ener- 
vated for  manly  toil,  was  cheap  enough  then  as  now.  But 
our  English  sage  insisted,  that  if  ''good"  was  not  done  well, 
people  had  better  let  it  alone.  Lord  Harrington  repre- 
sented to  his  pupil  "  that  she  must  not  undertake  more  ex- 
pense than  she  could  afford  ;  he  advised  her  to  distribute 
among  poor  families  short  catechisms  and  other  good  books, 
and  then  institute  rewards  to  parents  for  every  child  who 
could  answer  pertinently  when  questioned  on  them.  Like- 
wise other  rewards  [or  prizes]  for  girls  that  could  knit,  and 
sew,  and  clothe  themselves  and  families.  These  had  re- 
wards [prizes]  of  suits  of  clothes  given ;  they  were  further 
required  to  exert  their  skill  by  making  them,  and  this  se- 
cured another  reward  or  prize.  Further,  he  advised  her  to 
put  some  children  out  every  year,  some  to  handicraftsmen, 
and  others  to  farmers  to  learn  tillage.'' 

"  '  Even  these  benefactions,'  said  Lord  Harrington,  '  will 
sometimes  exceed  the  sum  you  set  apart  for  charity.'  ^Then 
make  up  the  deficiency,  my  Lord,'  replied  the  Princess, 
'  from  the  cost  of  that  appropriated  for  dress  and  personal  ex- 
penses.' Lord  Harrington  commended  much  her  generous 
intention,  but  told  her  that  every  rank  in  life  required  a 
suitable  appearance,  of  which  her  Grace  would  be  a  better 
judge  when  grown  up ;  that  she  would  then  do  well  to  re- 
gulate her  expenses  by  the  rules  of  discretion,  and  to  set 
proper  bounds  to  the  magnificence  of  her  apparel,  which 
would  set  a  good  example  to  those  ladies  of  lower  rank 
often  inclined  to  transgress  the  limits  of  good  sense  in  that 
particular.  Such  ought  to  be  her  constant  care.  '  He 
hoped,'  he  said,  '  to  see  her  united  to  some  illustrious 
prince  of  the  same  generous  disposition  with  herself,  that 
would  listen  to  her  good  counsels,  and  join  with  her  not  only 
in  discouraging  all  excesses,  but  in  encouraging  virtue,  pro- 
moting every  good  work,  and  the  happiness  of  their  subjects.' 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


29 


We  saw  the  cheeks  of  our  Princess  glow  and  her  eyes 
sparkle  as  if  her  heart  burned  within  her  when  prospects 
of  doing  good  were  set  before  her/' 

The  subject  of  Elizabeth's  tuition  must  not  be  dismissed 
without  quotation  from  some  devotional  lines,  written  while 
at  Combe  Abbey.  They  were  preserved  among  the  Har- 
rington Papers,  and  published  in  the  Nitgce  collected  in  the 
last  century.  There  is  something  of  strength  and  vitality 
in  the  lines,  which  show  that  Elizabeth  Stuart  shared  the 
poetical  genius  of  her  race,  and  was  a  worthy  descendant 
of  the  national  poets,  James  L,  James  IV.,  and  James  V. 
Unfortunately,  an  ambitious  desire  of  surmounting  difficul- 
ties has  caused  her  to  write  in  quadrupled  rhyme,  which 
has  injured  the  pleasing  simplicity  of  the  strain  of  thought: — 

"  This  is  joy,  this  true  pleasure, 
If  we  best  things  make  our  treasure, 
And  enjoy  them  at  full  leisure, 
Evermore  in  richest  measure. 

God  is  only  excellent. 
Unto  Him  our  love  be  sent ; 
Whose  desires  are  set  or  bent 
On  aught  else,  shall  much  repent. 

What  care  I  for  lofty  place, 
If  tlie  Lord  grant  me  His  grace, 
Showing  me  His  pleasant  face 
When  with  joy  I  end  my  race. 

This  is  only  my  desire, 
This  doth  set  my  heart  on  fire, 
That  I  might  receive  my  lyre 
With  the  saints'  and  angels'  quire. 

Oh  my  soul,  of  heavenly  birth, 
Do  thou  scorn  this  basest  earth ; 
Place  not  here  thy  joy  and  mirth, 
Where  of  bliss  is  utmost  dearth. 

To  me  grace.  Oh  Father,  send, 
On  Thee  wholly  to  depend ; 
May  I  to  Thy  glory  tend. 
So  to  live  and  so  to  end."  ^ 


1  There  are  more  verses,  but  they  have  been  irretrievably  mangled  in 
printing  the  Nugos. 


80 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


When  the  Princess  entered  her  fifteenth  year,  residences 
were  appointed  for  her  at  Kew  Palace,  and  at  the  Cock- 
pit. Lord  Harrington,  his  wife,  and  their  niece  and 
daughter,  were  given  the  first  places  in  her  household. 
The  Cockpit,  her  London  residence,  was  the  theatre  of 
Whitehall  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIIL  It  is  well  known,  in 
the  domestic  history  of  the  royalty  of  England  at  the  end 
of  the  same  century,  as  the  residence  of  Anne,  Princess  of 
Denmark,  the  youngest  daughter  of  James  II.,  and  sub- 
sequently as  the  Treasury,  and  as  the  site  of  the  present 
Treasury.  When  fresh  air  was  needed  during  the  stay  of 
the  Princess  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London,  Kew  was 
the  place  of  her  abode ;  whether  in  the  present  palace  is 
dubious,  yet  the  lower  rooms  present  many  features  of  the 
era  inflated  oak  panneling,  which,  though  afterwards  painted 
white,  cannot  date  much  later  than  the  times  of  James  1. 
Kew  has  for  several  centuries  been  the  residence  of  the 
younger  branches  of  English  royalty.  In  this  instance, 
the  near  neighbourhood  to  Ham  Palace,  the  favourite  abode 
of  Henry  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  easy  access  by  means 
of  the  river,  made  an  occasional  sojourn  there  very  delight- 
ful to  the  young  Elizabeth,  The  brother  and  sister  used  to 
exchange  visits  frequently  in  summer  evenings,  and  some- 
times remain  days  together  as  each  other's  guests.  These 
visits  are  still  preserved  in  the  traditions  of  Ham  House, 
which  is  the  most  curious  historical  palace  in  the  envi- 
rons of  London.  The  principal  state-chamber  was  hung 
with  tapestry  from  the  long-forgotten  factory  at  Mortlake, 
which  tradition  attributes  to  James  I.'s  patronage,  with  in- 
tention of  rivalling  the  famous  one  established  by  Gilles 
Gobelin  in  France  under  Francis  1.  The  wonderful  car- 
toons by  Raphael,  now  at  Hampton  Court,  served  for  the 
patterns  of  the  Mortlake  tapestry/    The  state-chamber  in 

^  It  is  certain  that  the  expenses  of  the  Mortlake  Gobelins  were  defrayed 
from  the  revenues  of  Henry  Prince  of  Wales  during  the  minority  of  his 
brother  Charles.  We  have  not  found  any  other  particular  of  its  existence, 
excepting  in  Manning's  Surrey,  which  attributes  the  foundation  to  James 
I.,  who  granted  £2000  to  Sir  F.  Crane  in  1C19 — the  Harleian  says,  from  the 
revenues  of  his  deceased  son  Henry.  That  the  cartoons  at  Hampton  Court 
have  been  worked,  is  known  by  the  marks  of  stitches  on  them. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


31 


Ham  House,  though  now  modernised,  was,  when  we  saw  it, 
about  eighteen  years  ago,  warranted  to  be  in  the  same  state 
as  when  Elizabeth  slept  there,  and  terrified  at  the  ghost- 
stories  which  her  brother  Henry  so  inhospitably  told  her, 
forsook  the  room  the  first  night,  and  took  refuge  in  the 
ante-room,  where  her  maids  slept  on  pallets,  and  passed  the 
night  in  their  company.  Henry  Stuart,  adored  as  he  was 
by  his  family,  had  a  propensity  of  teasing  and  trying  the 
tempers  of  his  sister  and  brother  Charles.  Lord  Har- 
rington, who  had  with  benevolent  foresight  taken  care  to 
guard  his  pupil  from  the  vulgar  and  selfish  forms  of  super- 
stition, was  doubtless  grieved  at  her  courage  breaking 
down  in  a  haunted  Tudor  chamber. 

Ham  House  was  one  of  Henry  VHI.'s  hunting-palaces ; 
some  remnants  of  his  arms  and  emblems  are  still  to  be 
seen.  A  beautiful  silver  grating  in  a  fireplace  of  his  time 
is  there ;  the  silver  fire-irons  and  dogs,  or  andirons,  are 
said  to  have  belonged  to  him.  Such  were  used  in  the 
chamber  where  the  princely  merchant  Fugger  welcomed 
his  sovereign  lord,  Charles  V.,  to  his  magnificent  abode 
at  Ghent.  When  the  host  conducted  his  imperial  guest  to 
his  chamber,  he  lighted  a  pile  of  cinnamon  (then  costly 
beyond  calculation,  which  was  heaped  on  a  similar  grating), 
with  a  bond  for  a  large  sum  of  money  the  great  Charles 
had  borrowed  of  him.  Never  before  was  chamber  warmed 
and  perfumed  with  such  costly  fuel !  Henry  VHI.  was 
given  to  imitate  his  greater  neighbours ;  he  could  command 
silver  decorations  and  utensils  for  his  fireplace,  but  the 
poetical  devotion  of  such  merchants  as  Fugger  he  did  not 
deserve,  as  his  dying  commerce  and  depreciated  currency 
prove  with  all  the  silent  power  of  facts.  There  is  nothing 
definite  in  the  traditions  of  the  personages  figuring  in  the 
ghost-stories  with  which  Henry  Stuart  frightened  his  guest 
and  sister;  yet,  by  an  odd  sort  of  poetical  justice,  the 
common  people  about  Ham  and  Mortlake,  retaining  a 
vague  idea  of  his  name  and  early  death,  now  suppose  that 
he  haunts  Ham  House.  Perhaps  it  was  he  who  originally 
invented  the  Ham  House  ghost-stories. 

Many  proposals  of  marriage  were  made  from  the  earliest 


32  ELIZABETH  STUAKT. 

period  of  the  existence  of  the  young  Princess.  There  was 
not  an  unmarried  prince  in  Europe  who  did  not,  in  some 
tiresome  treaty  or  other,  sue  for  her  hand.  Unfortunately 
there  was  as  great  difference  of  rank  among  these  princely 
suitors  as  in  the  degrees  of  the  nobility  and  squirearchy  of 
a  county  ball-room,  and  as  much  narrow  pride  displayed  in 
the  selection  of  partners.  England  had  in  the  previous 
century  mated  its  daughters  with  the  heirs  or  the  sove- 
reigns of  France  and  Spain.  Now  the  Island  thrones  were 
united,  how  could  a  lower  wedlock  be  looked  upon  with 
patience  ?  Anne  of  Denmark  desired  her  daughter  to 
wed  the  heir  of  Spain;  and  although  she  was  herself  the 
descendant  of  an  elective  prince  raised  to  the  throne  of 
Denmark  by  the  expulsion  of  a  Roman  Catholic  King  and 
a  Spanish  princess,  she  despised  the  sovereigns  of  the  Pro-, 
testant  north,  who  were,  nevertheless,  her  near  kindred, 
and  brought  up  the  young  Elizabeth  with  the  expectation  of 
wearing  the  crown-matrimonial  of  Spain,  despite  her  educa- 
tion, and  sincere  profession  of  the  Reformed  faith.  The  cold- 
ness of  Spain  regarding  this  marriage,  which  had  never  been 
entertained  for  a  moment  excepting  to  gain  the  Queen's 
assistance  in  some  ambassadorial  intrigue,  caused  the  ut- 
most mortification  to  the  English  royal  family.  Perhaps  that 
feeling  occasioned  the  marriage  which  eventually  took 
place  In  the  year  1613,  between  the  young  Elizabeth  and 
the  Elector  Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  Frederic  V.,  whose 
political  position  was  that  of  the  greatest  enemy  in  the 
world,  civil  and  religious,  to  the  two  branches  of  the  family 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabel,  then  established  on  the  Imperial 
thrones  of  Germany,  and  of  Spain. 

The  various  and  ambiguous  titles  of  the  monarch  of  the 
rejoicing  and  abounding  Rhine,  did  not  express  his  real 
power  and  wealth.  He  Is  called  Palsgrave  or  Palace 
Count,  or  Count  Palatine,  and  Elector  Palatine  and  Prince 
Palatine, — all  of  which  titles  signified  his  office  In  the  Im- 
perial Diet  as  the  first  In  rank  among  the  princes  who 
elected  the  emperors  of  Germany,  rather  than  the  fair  and 
fertile  dominions  over  which  his  somewhat  despotic  sceptre 
extended,  from  the  sources  of  the  mighty  river  to  its 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


33 


delta.  In  everything  but  the  mere  airy  sound  of  title, 
Frederic  was  the  greatest  prince  in  wide  Germany.  The 
brotherhood  of  Rhenish  princes  had  been  foremost  in 
Luther's  Reformation,  and  in  the  first  religious  war  of 
Germany  the  whole  Palatinate  had  been  Lutheran,  the 
people  following  the  religion  of  the  temporal  ruler  just  as 
sheep  are  driven  by  the  shepherd's  dog.  But  the  exi- 
gencies of  policy,  which  showed  how  much  more  inde- 
pendent of  the  Emperor  the  cities  and  princes  along  the 
borders  of  the  Rhine  would  be,  if  they  were  of  the  same 
party  of  religion  with  the  republic  of  Holland,  caused  matri- 
monial alliances  to  be  formed  with  the  reigning  Palatine 
family  and  the  Huguenot  and  Calvinist  princes  in  the  north 
of  France,  and  with  the  relations  and  allies  of  William  of 
Nassau,  the  liberator  of  Holland.  Frederic  IV.  married  J uli- 
ana  of  Nassau,  a  daughter  of  the  Liberator  by  Charlotte  of 
Bourbon,  the  last  but  one  of  his  many  wives.  Frederic  V. 
was  left  a  minor  in  1610,  and  was  brought  up  a  rigid 
Calvinist,  being  educated  at  Sedan,  the  very  focus  of  con- 
troversy, the  city  of  his  mother's  sister's  husband,  the  Duke 
de  Bouillon.  Thus  his  grandfather  by  the  mother's  side 
was  William  of  Nassau,  the  first  stadtholder  of  Holland ; 
his  half-uncles  the  celebrated  sons  of  that  hero.  Prince 
Maurice  of  Nassau  and  Frederic  Henry,  successively 
stadtholders  and  great  generals  in  the  Calvinist  cause 
against  the  whole  weight  of  Spain  and  Austria.  The 
whole  of  the  Palatinate  dominions  had  three  times  alter- 
nated i  from  Lutheranism  to  Calvinism,  the  latter  being 
the  bias  of  the  regents  during  two  minorities,  those  of 
Frederick  IV.  and  his  son  Frederic  V. :  in  the  last,  the 
university  of  Heidelberg,  the  capital  of  the  Palatinate,  had 
to  become  Calvinist.  But,  submissively  as  the  people  had 
obeyed  the  spiritual  orders  of  their  ruler,  that  something 
was  adverse  and  unsound  may  be  surmised  by  the  educa- 
tion of  the  young  Elector  being  transferred  to  the  focus  of 
Calvinism  at  Sedan.  The  violent  party-tendency  of  his 
great  uncle  Cassimir,  Duke  de  Deuxponts,  who  caused 

*  (Euvres  de  Due  de  Sully,  Amsterdam  ;  and  Atlas  Geographicus. 
VOL.  VIII.  C 


34 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Lutheranism  to  be  proscribed  througboiit  every  part  of  the 
Palatinate  during  the  two  minorities  of  his  nephews  Frederic 
IV.  and  Frederic  v.,  was  probably  the  reason.^ 

When  marriage  began  to  be  considered  for  the  young 
Elector  Palatine,  Frederic  V.,  his  mother  and  guardians 
were  desirous  of  obtaining  for  his  party,  by  its  means, 
political  and  religious  support  from  Great  Britain,  similar 
to  that  which  had  backed  the  Protestants  in  France  and 
Holland  in  the  days  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  During  two  years 
the  marriage-treaty  progressed  through  negotiations  of 
unexampled  dulness,  enlivened  solely  by  the  housewively 
anxiety  of  the  Electress  Juliana  that  the  lovely  and  high- 
born lady  she  was  desirous  of  winning  for  her  son,  should 
not  despise  the  simple  habits  of  German  fraus  and  frau- 
leins. 

Every  effort  having  proved  unavailing  to  induce  the  heir 
of  the  Spanish  empire  to  propose  for  the  Princess  Eliza- 
beth, her  mother,  being  greatly  piqued  by  the  neglect, 
unwillingly  withdrew  her  opposition  to  the  German  match. 
Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  did  his  utmost  to  marry  his  sister 
to  the  head  of  the  Calvinist  Protestants.  Matters  pro- 
gressed so  favourably  that  Count  Meinhard  Schomberg, 
mayor  of  the  palace  to  young  Frederic  V.,  (called  his 
steward  in  the  letters  of  the  times),  came  to  London  as  the 
bearer  of  love-letters  to  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  and  letters 
of  fraternity  to  her  brother.  .  But  the  German  noble  deli- 
vered the  love-letter  to  the  brother,  and  that  of  fraternisa- 
tion to  the  lady-love,  a  mistake  which  greatly  amused  all 
concerned  in  the  affair,  excepting  the  unfortunate  perpe- 
trator. Queen  Anne  would  not  give  any  reception  to 
Count  Schomberg ;  she  repented  her  of  her  extorted  consent 
to  the  marriage,  and  vented  her  spleen  by  calling  her  daugh- 
ter "  the  Frau  Palsgrave.''  Meantime  the  English  popu- 
lace showed  detestation  to  a  Spanish  alliance.    The  Spanish 

1  Yet  a  vast  number  of  the  subjects  of  these  Electors  Palatine  must  have 
been  discontented  with  such  despotism — the  more  to  be  regretted,  because 
the  Lutherans  were  the  most  liberal  of  any  Protestants,  excepting  in  Swe- 
den, where  the  struggle  with  the  Roman  Catholics  had  been  long  and  very 
bitter ;  but  they  had  not  disgraced  themselves  by  murdering  any  sectarians 
who,  like  themselves,  had  seceded  from  the  Roman  Catholics. 


ELIZABETH  STUART.  35 

ambassador,  Don  Pedro  Zuniga,  in  his  coach  drawn  by  six 
mules,  being  impeded  on  Holborn  Bridge,  his  hat,  with  a 
rich  jewel  in  it,  was  stolen  off  his  head,  and  messieurs  the 
mob  openly  encouraged  the  fellow  who  ran  off  with  it,  be- 
cause it  was  stolen  from  a  Spaniard,  so  that  it  was  never 
seen  again.^  This,  though  an  evident  performance  of  a 
swell  mob,  was  taken  by  the  Court  as  a  political  indica- 
tion. So  the  young  Count  Palatine's  proposals  were  ac- 
cepted, and  his  arrival  in  England  appointed  for  the  ensuing 
Michaelmas  of  1612.  All  matters  went  well,  excepting 
Count  Schomberg's  misgivings  respecting  the  fine  dancing 
at  the  English  Court,  with  which  he  was  convinced  his 
young  Prince  could  in  nowise  compete,  for  his  educational 
exercises  at  Sedan  had  all  been  of  a  controversial  and 
polemic  nature,  elaborate  caperings  being  considered  any- 
thing but  orthodox.^  The  faithful  Schomberg,  on  his  re- 
turn, communicated  his  apprehensions  of  his  Prince's  defi- 
ciencies in  this  all-important  accomplishment ;  whereupon 
his  mother,  the  Electress  Juliana,  held  a  family  conclave, 
with  guardians  and  uncles,  on  the  subject  of  a  dancing- 
master.  Application  being  made,  by  her  desire,  through 
the  Duke  de  Deuxponts  to  the  friendly  Duke  of  Wurtem- 
berg  for  the  loan  of  his  dancing-master  for  a  month,  and 
the  negotiation  proving  successful,  we  will  leave  the  princely 
suitor  practising  his  steps,  and  return  to  his  bride. 

^  Chamberlain  to  Carlton — MS.  News-letter,  British  Museum. 
^  Ibid.,  MS.  News-letter,  British  Museum. 


ELIZABETH  STUART 


CHAPTEE  11. 

SUMMARY 

Elizabeth's  first  appearance  at  Court  celebrated  by  Sir  H.  Wottou — Arrival 
of  her  intended  husband  the  Count  Palatine — Coldness  of  the  Queen — 
First  meeting  of  Elizabeth  and  Frederic — Illness  of  the  Prince  of  Wales 
— Play  and  supper  given  by  Elizabeth  at  her  Palace  of  the  Cockpit — 
Her  father  removes  her  from  her  brother's  deathbed — Her  brother  calls 
for  her — She  disguises  herself  to  see  him — Is  prevented — Her  brother 
dies — Elizabeth  visits  Westminster  Abbey  with  her  lover — Her  betrothal 
— Married  on  Valentine's  Day — Mirth  of  the  bride — Beaumont's  masque 
of  the  Thames  and  the  Rhine  —  The  bride  remains  with  her  mother  at 
Greenwich  Palace — The  King  takes  Frederic  in  progress — Elizabeth  visits 
the  Tower  with  her  husband  and  his  uncle — Their  petition  to  James  I. — 
His  displeasure — Her  mother  makes  her  promise  to  give  precedence  to 
no  one  in  Germany — Her  father  enjoins  Elizabeth  not  to  communicate 
with  other  religion  than  the  Church  of  England  —  Their  parting  —  The 
bride,  her  husband,  and  Charles,  Prince  of  Wales,  detained  by  adverse 
wind — Long  sojourn  at  Canterbury — Troubles  of  Count  Schomberg  con- 
cerning Elizabeth's  attendants — Elizabeth's  letters — Her  brother  Charles 
takes  leave  of  her  at  Canterbury — Stadtholder  Maurice  sends  a  skilful 
Dutch  pilot  for  the  bridal  party — Elizabeth's  arrival  at  Flushing— Meets 
Prince  Maurice — Wins  his  friendship — Left  under  his  care  by  her  husband 
— Dutch  festivals  and  rich  presents  to  Elizabeth — Her  progress  up  the 
Lower  Rhine,  accompanied  by  the  Princes  of  Orange— Met  by  the  Elector 
of  Brandenburg — Her  husband  boards  her  galley — Welcomes  her  in  his 
dominions — Her  father  ceases  to  pay  her  expenses — Her  husband  advises 
economy — Her  extravagance — Runs  in  debt — Arrives  at  her  dower  castle 
of  Frankenthal — Enters  Heidelberg,  her  husband's  capital. 

Tjie  appearance  of  Elizabeth  Stuart  in  the  courtly  world 
of  that  day  was  the  theme  of  many  versifiers,  and  one  poet, 
Sir  Henry  Wotton.  The  elegant  lines  with  which  he  cele- 
brated the    coming  out of  the  royal  Stuart  beauty  are 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


37 


esteemed  among  the  choicest  gems  of  that  really  Augustan 
age  of  England. 

"  Ye  violets  that  first  appear, 

By  your  pure  purple  mantles  known. 
Like  the  proud  virgins  of  the  year, 
As  if  the  spring  were  all  your  own  ; 
What  are  ye  when  the  rose  is  blown  ? 

Ye  meaner  beauties  of  the  nighty 

That  poorly  satisfy  our  eyes, 
More  by  your  number  than  your  light ; 

Ye  common  people  of  the  skies  ! 

What  are  ye  when  the  sun  doth  rise  1 

So  when  my  mistress  shall  be  seen 

In  form  and  beauty —of  her  mind 
In  virtue  first — by  choice  a  Queen  ! 

Tell  me  if  she  were  not  designed, 

The  eclipse  and  glory  of  her  kind  ? " 

The  royal  family  met  at  Whitehall  after  their  summer 
progresses,  in  the  autumn  of  1612,  in  the  expectation  of  the 
arrival  of  the  young  Count  Palatine  to  cfkim  the  hand  of 
Elizabeth;  but  the  changed  appearance  of  Henry,  Prince  of 
Wales,  struck  sorrow  and  alarm  through  the  hearts  of  all 
to  whom  he  was  dear.  After  taking  violent  exercise  in  the 
tilt-yard  or  tennis-ground  at  Ham  or  Richmond,  he  had 
imprudently  bathed  in  the  Thames,  and  even  swum  to 
Richmond  after  supper,  on  the  evening  of  a  hot  summer 
day  spent  in  violent  exercise.  The  time  was  extremely 
sickly,  and  the  prince  had  far  out-grown  his  strength.  One 
of  his  Scotch  doctors  remembered  that  he  had  never  shed 
his  first  teeth,  and  that  at  the  time  he  had  dreaded  a  very 
short  life  for  him  ;  but  as  he  grew  tall  and  handsome,  and 
seemed  full  of  activity,  that  fatal  prognostic  had  been  for- 
gotten.^ Every  one  who  saw  the  Prince  of  Wales  at  the 
period  of  the  arrival  of  his  intended  brother-in-law,  noted 
in  his  altered  countenance  that  some  strange  blight  had 

*  The  verses  were  afterwards  set  to  music,  and  presented  to  Elizabeth,  . 
by  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  at  a  time  when  her  disastrous  queenship  was  chang- 
ing her  fortunes.    To  this  the  last  verse  seems  to  refer  ;  but  the  whole 
tenor  shows  they  were  written  for  her  appearance  at  court,  perhaps  even 
previously  to  it. 

^  News-letter,  time  of  James  I. — Harleian  MS. 


38 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


fallen  on  his  health.  At  present  all  his  anxiety  seemed  to 
be  for  the  completion  of  the  Protestant  alliance  which,  owing 
to  his  influence,  had  been  accepted  for  his  sister. 

Frederic  V.  had  set  out  on  his  wooing  and  wedding 
expedition  from  his  capital  city  of  Heidelberg  as  early  as 
September  17.  His  progress  down  the  Rhine  with  his  bridal 
train  was  magnificent.  At  his  arrival  at  the  Hague,  the 
States  deputies,  delighted  at  the  alliance  with  Great  Britain, 
which  they  expected  would  give  their  religion  and  politics  a 
mighty  preponderance  In  Europe,  made  him  a  present  of  a 
purse  of  16,000  guilders  towards  the  wedding  expenses. 
After  a  long  detention  from  contrary  gales,  Frederic  set 
sail,  In  company  with  his  uncle.  Prince  Henry  of  Nassau, 
the  youngest  son  of  William  of  Orange  the  Liberator,  the 
Count  de  Solms  his  Grand  Chamberlain,  and  Count  Schom- 
berg  his  Mayor  de  Palais.  He  was  attended  by  six  counts, 
his  gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber,  mostly  his  near  relatives. 
So  violently  did  the  winds  fight  against  his  nearing  the  coast 
of  England,  that  the  whole  flotilla,  consisting  of  eight  little 
barks,  was  blown  back  Into  the  ports  of  Holland,  not  with- 
out damage.  James  I.  was  forced  at  last  to  send  three  of 
his  great  ships  to  bring  in  his  son-in-law,  who  safely  arrived 
at  Gravesend,  the  16th  of  October.  Tradition  says  he  was 
received  there  at  the  Ship  Inn,  by  Sir  Lewis  Lewknor, 
Master  of  the  Ceremonies,  and  the  King's  barges  came  with 
the  Duke  of  Lennox,  by  whom  he  was  brought  up  the  river 
to  Whitehall.  The  princely  bridegroom,  although  it  was 
one  of  the  most  wintry  evenings  an  English  October  ever 
sent  forth,  opened  all  the  windows  of  the  barge  to  greet 
the  people,  the  watery  highway  being  covered  with  boats 
crowded  with  Londoners.  At  the  Watergate  of  Whitehall 
stairs  he  was  received  by  Charles,  the  young  Duke  of  York, 
with  his  attendants,  and  conducted  by  him  through  the  hall 
of  the  palace,  along  the  terrace.  Into  the  banqueting-room, 
where  the  rest  of  the  royal  family  were  assembled  to  meet 
him. 

Although  the  Prince  of  Wales  had  been  restlessly  anxious 
for  the  arrival  of  the  Protestant  wooer,  yet  it  excited  great 
astonishment  that,  while  his  young  brother,  but  a  child,  was 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


39 


attending  the  princely  guest  with  much  suavity,  he  remained 
silent,  and  stirred  not  a  foot  to  meet  him.  But  in  fact  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  who  had  concealed  or  denied  his  illness 
until  the  last  extremity,  was  suffering  extremely  from  the 
rigour  of  the  weather.  It  was  observed  that  the  Queen 
received  her  intended  son-in-law  with  a  cold  fixed  counte- 
nance. He  bowed  before  her,  and  evidently  expected  her 
to  salute  him,  but  he  was  disappointed.  The  Princess  Eliza- 
beth did  not  even  turn  a  glance  on  him,  till  he  presented 
himself  before  her,  which  he  did  with  the  most  humble  ges- 
ture, stooping  to  take  up  the  hem  of  her  robe,  that  he  might 
press  it  to  his  lips,  thus  offering  her  the  reverence  with  which 
the  Queens  of  France  were  always  approached  by  their  cour- 
tiers/ The  young  Elizabeth  curtsied  very  low,  and  gracefully 
complying  with  the  ceremonial  of  the  French  Court,  took 
the  robe  from  the  Prince,  who  kissed  her  as  she  rose  from 
her  deep  curtsy.  All  this  was  very  well  performed,  to  the 
approbation  of  the  beholders  ;  but  it  can  be  imagined  that 
the  least  blunder  or  symptom  of  awkwardness  manifested 
by  either  party  would  have  given  a  turn  of  extreme  absur- 
dity to  these  courtly  manoeuvres.  By  some  contretemps^ 
the  lover  had  the  great  misfortune  of  being  separated  from 
all  his  fine  clothes,  which  had  not  arrived;  therefore  he  was 
obliged  to  be  introduced  in  his  travelling-dress.  To  be  sure 
this  accident  was  something  to  talk  of,  and  his  apologies  in 
French  were  very  elaborate  on  the  subject.  King  James, 
who  had  welcomed  his  guest  with  his  usual  honhommie^  led 
him  to  his  own  chamber,  where  he  pressed  on  his  finger  a 
ring  worth  £1800.2  From  the  palace  he  was  then  conducted 
through  the  privy  lodgings,  galleries,  and  water-terrace, 
from  whence  he  again  embarked,  and  was  rowed  to  Essex 
House,  the  place  appointed  for  his  residence  while  in  Lon- 
don. The  Prince  of  Wales,  in  the  succeeding  days,  reco- 
vered sufficiently  to  share  in  the  exercises  of  riding  at  the 
ring,  and  other  chivalric  diversions,  with  Prince  Henry 
of  Nassau,  and  the  foreign  noblemen  ;  but  Frederic  devoted 

1  Reception  of  the  Count  Palatine,  in  a  letter  from  Sir  John  Finett  to 
Mr  Trumbull — Nicholl's  Progresses. 

*  News-letter,  British  Museum — Chamberlain  to  Carlton. 


40 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


himself  entirely  to  improve  his  acquaintance  with  the  Pnn- 
cess,  whom  he  visited  every  day.  She  invited  him  to  an 
entertainment  given  at  her  maiden  palace,  the  Cockpit/  at 
"Westminster,  where  there  was  a  play  performed  in  the 
evening  by  her  servants.  One  w^ould  like  to  know  whether 
Shakespeare  assisted  ;  but  all  that  can  be  elicited  of  the 
entertainment  is,  that  the  tapestries  in  her  drawing-room 
at  the  Cockpit  were  of  the  story  of  Cain  and  Abel. 

Meantime  the  Roman  Catholic  party  in  England  raised 
a  cry  against  the  match  ;  several  scornful  libels  were  pub- 
lished, detracting  from  the  Palatine  family,  and  Star- 
chamber  displeasure  was  manifested  towards  the  offenders. 
The  least  observant  might  behold  fast- approaching  death 
reflected  in  the  features  of  the  heir-apparent,  and  that  Eli- 
zabeth Stuart  would  soon  take  rank  as  the  second  in  the 
succession. 

The  mortal  illness  of  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  Interfered 
v/ith  the  arrangements  for  the  betrothal  of  Elizabeth  and 
Frederic.  Henry  had  gone  through  all  the  stages  of  what 
is  called  a  galloping  consumption — he  had  battled  with 
the  disease  to  the  last  moment,  but  succumbed  to  a  violent 
attack  of  fever  on  the  20th  of  October,  fainting  at  table ; 
the  King  and  royal  family  dining  privately,  with  Frederic 
as  their  guest,-  who  had  received  general  invitations  to 
partake  of  their  meals  in  home-privacy.  But  the  Illness  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales  being  supposed  to  be  merely  quotidian 
ague,  in  which  form  typhus  fever  often  appears,  he  was 
nursed  at  the  palace  of  St  James,  his  town  residence.  His 
sister  and  her  lover  were  obliged  to  appear  at  festivals,  and 
to  make  a  state  visit  to  the  city  on  Lord  Mayor's  Day, 
October  28th.  Sir  John  Swinnerton  presented  the  bride- 
groom with  a  silver  basin,  ewer,  and  cups,  to  the  value  of 
£500.  The  day  was  furiously  stormy,  so  that  the  extra- 
ordinary water-pageants  prepared  for  the  delectation  of  the 
princely  stranger  were  shipvvrecked  on  the  river,  the  alder- 
men's barges  driven  on  shore,  and  the  whole  expedition 

^  News-letter,  British  Museum — Chamberlain  to  Carlton. 
^  Chamberlain  to  Carleton,  November  4,  1612— British  Museum,  MS. 
News-letter. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


41 


discomfited  by  the  furious  elements ; — a  diversity  in  a  Lord 
Mayor's  show  most  acceptable,  if  not  to  the  beholders  and 
sufferers,  at  least  to  the  narrator.  From  the  time  of  the  visit 
of  Elizabeth  and  Frederic  to  the  civic  fete,  the  state  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales  grew  worse.  Low  typhus  fever,  pronounced 
infectious  by  his  physicians,  left  no  hope.  At  last  his  reason 
succumbed.  King  James,  who  had  braved  all  threats  of 
infection,  sat  by  his  son's  bedside  until  recognition  entirely 
left  the  poor  sufferer.  The  King  then  gathered  his  remain- 
ing children  together,  and,  treating  young  Frederic  as  one 
of  them,  took  them  all  in  his  coach  to  Holland  House  at 
Kensington,  where  he  could  hear  every  half-hour  of  the 
state  of  his  expiring  son.  It  was  needful  to  use  parental 
authority  to  keep  Elizabeth  from  her  brother's  infected 
chamber.  For  the  last  words  that  Henry  spoke — words 
which  bore  any  sign  of  reason — were  exclamations  of  "Oh, 
where  is  my  sweet  sister?"  She  had  twice  disguised  herself 
to  visit  him,  but  his  physicians  guarded  his  door  too  sedu- 
lously. These  attempts,  it  is  apparent,  caused  the  retreat 
of  the  King  to  Kensington,  where  he  guarded  from  the 
influence  of  the  low  typhoid  his  remaining  treasures.  This 
is  the  simple  narrative  of  the  facts  of  the  case.  History — 
if  we  may  call  party  libels  history — has  disgraced  and  de- 
graded itself  by  accusing  two  of  the  members  of  this  attached 
family  of  poisoning  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales ;  not  only  the 
father  who  had  loved  and  reared  him  in  all  the  simplicity 
of  home  affections,  but  the  brother,  the  young  boy  Charles 
Stuart,  not  yet  thirteen  ! 

Throughout  the  period  of  seclusion  observed  after  the 
death  of  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  Elizabeth  was  either 
domesticated  with  her  lover  or  received  daily  visits  from 
him  unencumbered  with  state  etiquette.  The  result  was 
that  he  gained  far  more  interest  in  her  affections  while 
soothing  her  passionate  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  her  beloved 
brother  than  in  the  usual  mode  of  courtly  wooing.  After 
the  funeral  of  Henry,  and  during  the  recess  of  mourning, 
the  Princess  and  her  lover  visited  Westminster  Abbey, 
the  place  of  her  brother's  interment.  It  seems  the  lov- 
ing pair  examined  the  monuments  there — a  pastime  to 


40 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


lilmself  entirely  to  improve  his  acquaintance  with  the  Prin- 
cess, whom  he  visited  every  day.  She  invited  him  to  an 
entertainment  given  at  her  maiden  palace,  the  Cockpit/  at 
Westminster,  where  there  was  a  play  performed  in  the 
evening  by  her  servants.  One  would  like  to  know  whether 
Shakespeare  assisted  ;  but  all  that  can  be  elicited  of  the 
entertainment  is,  that  the  tapestries  in  her  drawing-room 
at  the  Cockpit  were  of  the  story  of  Cain  and  Abel. 

Meantime  the  Roman  Catholic  party  in  England  raised 
a  cry  against  the  match  ;  several  scornful  libels  were  pub- 
lished, detracting  from  the  Palatine  family,  and  Star- 
chamber  displeasure  was  manifested  towards  the  offenders. 
The  least  observant  might  behold  fast- approaching  death 
reflected  in  the  features  of  the  heir-apparent,  and  that  Eli- 
zabeth Stuart  would  soon  take  rank  as  the  second  in  the 
succession. 

The  mortal  illness  of  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  interfered 
with  the  arrangements  for  the  betrothal  of  Elizabeth  and 
Frederic.  Henry  had  gone  through  all  the  stages  of  what 
is  called  a  galloping  consumption — he  had  battled  with 
the  disease  to  the  last  moment,  but  succumbed  to  a  violent 
attack  of  fever  on  the  20th  of  October,  fainting  at  table ; 
the  King  and  royal  family  dining  privately,  with  Frederic 
as  their  guest,-  who  had  received  general  invitations  to 
partake  of  their  meals  in  home-privacy.  But  the  illness  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales  being  supposed  to  be  merely  quotidian 
ague,  in  which  form  typhus  fever  often  appears,  he  was 
nursed  at  the  palace  of  St  James,  his  town  residence.  His 
sister  and  her  lover  were  obliged  to  appear  at  festivals,  and 
to  make  a  state  visit  to  the  city  on  Lord  Mayor's  Day, 
October  28th.  Sir  John  Swinnerton  presented  the  bride- 
groom with  a  silver  basin,  ewer,  and  cups,  to  the  value  of 
£500,  The  day  was  furiously  stormy,  so  that  the  extra- 
ordinary water-pageants  prepared  for  the  delectation  of  the 
princely  stranger  were  shipvvrecked  on  the  river,  the  alder- 
men's barges  driven  on  shore,  and  the  whole  expedition 

^  News-letter,  British  Museum — Chamberlain  to  Carlton. 
Chamberlain  to  Carleton,  November  4,  1612 — British  Museum,  MS. 
NewK-letter. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


41 


discomfited  by  the  furious  elements ; — a  diversity  in  a  Lord 
Mayor's  show  most  acceptable,  if  not  to  the  beholders  and 
sufferers,  at  least  to  the  narrator.  From  the  time  of  the  visit 
of  Elizabeth  and  Frederic  to  the  civic  fete,  the  state  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales  grew  worse.  Low  typhus  fever,  pronounced 
infectious  by  his  physicians,  left  no  hope.  At  last  his  reason 
succumbed.  King  James,  who  had  braved  all  threats  of 
infection,  sat  by  his  son's  bedside  until  recognition  entirely 
left  the  poor  sufferer.  The  King  then  gathered  his  remain- 
ing children  together,  and,  treating  young  Frederic  as  one 
of  them,  took  them  all  in  his  coach  to  Holland  House  at 
Kensington,  where  he  could  hear  every  half-hour  of  the 
state  of  his  expiring  son.  It  was  needful  to  use  parental 
authority  to  keep  Elizabeth  from  her  brother's  infected 
chamber.  For  the  last  words  that  Henry  spoke — words 
which  bore  any  sign  of  reason — were  exclamations  of  "  Oh, 
where  is  my  sweet  sister?"  She  had  twice  disguised  herself 
to  visit  him,  but  his  physicians  guarded  his  door  too  sedu- 
lously. These  attempts,  it  is  apparent,  caused  the  retreat 
of  the  King  to  Kensington,  where  he  guarded  from  the 
influence  of  the  low  typhoid  his  remaining  treasures.  This 
is  the  simple  narrative  of  the  facts  of  the  case.  History — 
if  we  may  call  party  libels  history — has  disgraced  and  de- 
graded itself  by  accusing  two  of  the  members  of  this  attached 
family  of  poisoning  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales ;  not  only  the 
father  who  had  loved  and  reared  him  in  all  the  simplicity 
of  home  affections,  but  the  brother,  the  young  boy  Charles 
Stuart,  not  yet  thirteen  ! 

Throughout  the  period  of  seclusion  observed  after  the 
death  of  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  Elizabeth  was  either 
domesticated  with  her  lover  or  received  daily  visits  from 
him  unencumbered  with  state  etiquette.  The  result  was 
that  he  gained  far  more  interest  in  her  affections  while 
soothing  her  passionate  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  her  beloved 
brother  than  In  the  usual  mode  of  courtly  wooing.  After 
the  funeral  of  Henry,  and  during  the  recess  of  mourning, 
the  Princess  and  her  lover  visited  Westminster  Abbey, 
the  place  of  her  brother's  interment.  It  seems  the  lov- 
ing pair  examined  the  monuments  there — a  pastime  to 


44 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


sideratlon  of  these  inconveniences^  an  early  day  was  appointed 
for  the  betrothal,  although  every  one  was  still  enveloped 
in  deep  mourning.  The  Queen  was  too  ill  and  sorrowful  to 
be  present  at  the  ceremony  of  affiancing  Elizabeth  and  Fre- 
deric, which  took  place  in  the  newly-built  Banqueting-house 
at  Whitehall,  December  27th.  The  youthful  pair  were  in 
mourning  for  Henry — the  Princess  being  robed  in  black 
velvet,  ornamented  with  silver  quatrefoils.  Pearls  of  great 
value  were  wreathed  in  her  black  hair,  and  she  wore  one 
little  white  plume.  The  simplicity  which  the  mourning 
had  imposed  gave  such  elegance  to  this  costume,  that 
black  velvet  and  little  white  plumes  became  the  universal 
fashion  in  Court  for  a  long  time,  worn  both  by  cavaliers 
and  belles.^ 

The  ceremony  of  the  betrothal,  which  included  reading 
and  signing  the  marriage-contract,  besides  a  religious  ser- 
vice, was  going  on  sadly  and  solemnly  enough  when  the 
droll  pronunciation  and  queer  mistakes  of  Sir  Thomas  Lake, 
whose  office  it  was  to  read  the  marriage  articles  in  French 
to  the  bridegroom,  threw  both  the  Princess  and  her  betrothed 
into  irresistible  fits  of  laughter.  The  merriment  extended 
to  the  friends  and  attendants  of  Frederic;  and  when  the  re- 
ligious part  of  the  ceremony  commenced.  Archbishop  Abbot 
could  not  command  decent  gravity  from  his  congregation ; 
he  therefore  finished  as  quickly  as  possible  with  these  words, 
pronounced  in  a  loud  voice,  "  The  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  bless  these  nuptials,  and  make  them  prosperous 
to  these  kingdoms  and  to  His  church." 2 

The  bans  of  the  princely  pair  were  soon  after  asked  in 
Whitehall  Chapel  during  three  Sundays.  The  Queen  re- 
mained ill  and  in  close  retirement  throughout  the  early  part 
of  the  winter  ;  but  when  she  at  last  appeared  at  Court,  it  was 
observed  that  she  received  the  Palatine  with  kindness.  She 
was  no  doubt  softened  by  the  memory  of  her  beloved  son, 
on  whose  deathbed  he  had  been  in  close  attendance,  and  had 
followed  him  to  the  grave  as  a  true  mourner. 

Elizabeth's  marriage  took  place  on  Valentine's  Day,  Sun- 
day, 1612-13.    The  ceremony  was  performed  in  White- 

^  MS.  Chamberlain  to  Carleton — News-letter.  ^  Ibid. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


45 


hall  Chapel.^    The  Queen  sat  on  a  chair  of  state  on  the 
left  side  of  a  platform  raised  in  the  midst  of  the  chapel ; 
she  was  dressed  in  white  satin  embroidered,  and  "  most 
gloriously  adorned/'  for  she  bore  on  her  person  jewels 
to  the  amount  of  four  hundred  thousand  pounds.  The 
king,  as  better  able  to  stand  under  the  weight  of  such 
barbarian   magnificence,  had  contrived  to  load  himself 
with  six  hundred  thousand  pounds'  worth  of  jewels.  The 
bride  sat  near  her  royal  mother  on  a  tabouret,  with  her 
fine  hair  flowing  over  her  shoulders,  her  head  encircled  with 
a  coronet  made  of  pinnacles  of  the  finest  diamonds  and 
pearls;  her  robe  was  white  satin,  embroidered  with  pearls  and 
gems.    She  was  attended  by  fifteen  young  ladies,  the  flower 
of  the  English  nobility,  as  bridesmaids  or  train-bearers. 
Her  bridegroom  was  led  from  the  new  Banqueting-house 
by  the  Duke  of  Lennox  and  Lord  Admiral,  dressed  splen- 
didly in  white  satin  and  pearls.    He  was  seated  on  a 
tabouret  near  the  King,  but  below  the  sword  of  state.  The 
Princess,  a  lively  girl  of  sixteen,  on  the  point  of  being  united 
to  a  spouse  of  suitable  age  who  had  won  her  heart  by  a  long 
series  of  personal  attentions,  was  in  the  highest  spirits,  and 
broke  into  a  fresh  fit  of  laughing  as  fast  as  one  was  sup- 
pressed by  the  exhortations  of  Lady  Harrington,  who 
stood  by  her  with  her  train  on  her  arm.    Much  evil  was 
predicted  on  account  of  the  bride's  incorrigible  mirth, 
which  burst  out  even  during  the  sacred  ceremony.  Some 
girlish  joke  connected  with  the  anniversary  of  St  Valen- 
tine had  probably  overset  her  gravity  :   for,  of  course, 
her  whole  train  of  bridesmaids  were  looking  out  for  Valen- 
tines among  the  array  of  the  Palatine's  bridesmen,  Dutch, 
German,  and  English,  who  were  arranged  in  formal  order 
along  the  opposite  w^all  of  the  chapel.     The  Palatine's 
right-hand  man  of  business,  Count  Meinhard  Schomberg, 
was  known  to  be  deeply  in  love  with  the  fair  Anne  Dudley; 
a  circumstance  which  contributed  to  the  mirth  of  the  princely 
pair. 

This  was  the  first  royal  marriage  that  had  been  celebrated 
according  to  the  ritual  of  our  Church,  as  ordained  in  the 
^  Afterwards  pulled  down. 


46 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Common  Prayer-Book  and  the  Liturgy.  The  bridegroom  had 
carefully  conned  his  part  in  English,  and  pronounced  it  as 
well  as  could  be  expected,  as  his  contemporaries  assure  us.-^ 
The  pageantry  pertaining  to  the  bridal  was  of  the  most 
elaborate  and  tedious  kind.    The  qualntness  and  absurdi- 
ties of  the  past  centuries  are  not  only  very  comic,  but  their 
detail  is  often  mixed  up  with  curious  traits  of  the  manners 
and  customs  of  people  whose  domestic  habits  have  vanished 
from  all  other  written  record ;  therefore  it  is  often  full  of 
information  as  well  as  amusement;  but  after  the  period  of 
the  renaissance  of  the  classical  lore,  imitations  and  allusions 
are  faded  and  tiresome  to  a  degree  that  makes  their  repeti- 
tion intolerable.   One  strange  freak  was  practised  among  the 
evening  fireworks  at  one  or  other  of  the  pageants  connected 
with  the  marriage  of  Elizabeth.    A  comet  rose  out  of  a 
cave  on  the  opposite  bank  of  old  Father  Thames,  and  soar- 
ing in  air,  let  fall  a  liberal  shower  of  rockets  and  Roman 
candles;  then  an  illuminated  hunt  rushed  from  the  cave, 
the  unfortunate  stag  and  pursuing  dogs  being  strung  all 
over  with  lamps,  which  defined  their  shapes  and  showed 
their  motions.    The  terrified,  and  perhaps  tormented,  stag 
rushed  into  the  waters  of  the  Thames,  the  illuminated  dogs 
followed  his  example,  and  began  tugging  and  pulling  their 
prey.    A  great  explosion  of  squibs  and  crackers  took  place, 
and  the  Thames  put  out  all  the  creatures'  unwelcome  har- 
ness of  lighted  lamps;  but  what  became  of  the  hunt  no  one 
could  tell  among  the  dark  waters.  The  device  was  a  cruel 
one,  but  that  circumstance  rendered  it  not  the  less  success- 
ful. 

The  day  after  the  wedding  the  King  came  to  St  James's 
Palace  in  state,  to  visit  the  bride  and  bridegroom.  The 
principal  morning  amusement  took  place  in  St  James's  Park, 
riding  at  the  ring  in  the  Mall.  The  King  had  in  his  early 
days  excelled  in  this  sport,  to  which  he  now  introduced  his 
youthful  son-in-law.  King  James  bore  away  three  rings  him- 
self ;  the  bridegroom,^  who  was  mounted  on  a  high-bound- 
ing steed,  won  two  ;  his  horsemanship  was  exceedingly  ad- 

^  Chamberlain  to  Carlcton — MS.  News-letter,  British  Museum,  February 
18,  1612-13.  2  Ibid. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


47 


mired  by  the  English  populace.  The  apparatus  for  the  sus- 
pension of  the  rings,  which  were  carried  off  on  the  point  of  a 
lance  as  a  horseman  careered  below,  remained  in  the  Mall 
until  after  the  reign  of  James  11.^  It  was  the  last  shadow 
of  the  chivalric  sports  of  England.  The  royal  bride,  with 
the  Queen  her  mother,  sat  in  the  upper  windows  of  the  new 
Banqueting-hall  to  see  the  courses  at  the  ring,  which  they 
could  easily  command  over  the  low  turrets  of  Wallingford 
House,  which  then  held  the  place  of  the  Horse-Guards. 

The  noblemen  of  the  Court  gave  a  masque  on  the  evening 
of  the  marriage.  It  was  pronounced  to  be  dull  as  a  sermon, 
for  which,  indeed,  the  evening,  being  Sunday,  was  more 
fitting.  The  masques  of  the  Inns  of  Court  were  among  the 
choicest  amusements  of  this  festival  time;  that  of  Lincoln's 
Inn  and  the  Middle  Temple  was  performed  on  the  Monday 
night.  The  procession  came  from  the  Rolls  Court  in  three 
open  chariots,  each  drawn  by  four  steeds  abreast,  lighted  by 
torchlight.  The  populace  were  exceedingly  delighted  by 
the  tricks  of  the  little  boys  on  hobby-horses,  dressed  as 
monkeys  for  the  anti-masque.^ 

The  poetry  was  by  Campion,  and  had  great  success ;  but 
expectation  was  mostly  bent  on  a  masque  written  by  Beau- 
mont for  the  gentlemen  of  Gray's  Inn  and  the  Inner  Tem- 
ple, got  up  under  the  superintendence  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon. 
The  King,  however,  was,  by  the  third  evening  of  the  wed- 
ding, so  thoroughly  and  utterly  overcome  with  fatigue,  that 
when  the  gentlemen  of  Gray's  Inn,  who  came  by  water, 
arrived  in  their  illuminated  barges  at  the  Privy  Stairs, 
Whitehall,  on  Tuesday  evening,  he  was  obliged  to  crave 
quarter,  declaring  he  could  not  keep  his  eyes  open,  and  must 
go  to  rest.  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  who  introduced  his  pro- 
teges, was  extremely  disappointed,  and  ventured  to  remon- 
strate, hoping  "  the  King  would  not  bury  them  quick.'' 
The  King  replied,  "  That  if  they  kept  him  up  any  longer, 
they  must  bury  him  quick,  as  he  was  already  dead  asleep, 
having  sat  up  for  two  nights  together,  and  truly  he  could 

^  A  sketch  of  the  post  and  suspended  ring  is  preserved  in  the  last  edition 
of  Sturt's  Sports  —Library  of  Entertaining  Knowledge. 
^  Chamberlain  to  Carlton — MS.  News-letter. 


48 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


remain  out  of  liis  bed  no  longer.  He  gave  the  gentlemen  of 
Gray's  Inn  and  the  Inner  Temple  very  great  thanks,  but 
requested  them  to  bring  their  masque  on  Saturday  evening, 
when  he  should  be  able  to  enjoy  it/'  What  could  induce 
the  quaint  oddity  King  J ames  to  inflict  on  himself  the  per- 
sonal fatigue  of  two  sleepless  nights  because  his  daughter 
was  married,  it  is  difficult  to  form  a  reasonable  surmise. 
But  the  legal  gentlemen,  all  dressed  in  character  according 
to  their  masque,  which  was  accompanied  by  the  usual 
caricature  of  the  serious  and  elevated  part,  called  the  An- 
ti-masque, had  to  re-embark,  and  return  in  their  barges 
down  the  wintry  Thames  to  Winchester  House  just  as 
they  came.  Many  reports  were  prevalent  that  they  had 
misbehaved  or  offended  the  King,  or  learned  the  lesson 
they  had  to  recite  before  the  fair  bride  incorrectly ;  yet 
their  pageant  gave  great  delight  to  the  people,  who  were 
glad  to  see  its  water -procession  and  progress  rehearsed 
again,  as  it  was,  without  dispute,  the  most  attractive  spec- 
tacle in  the  whole  circle  of  Elizabeth's  bridal  festivities. 

English  literature  was,  at  that  era,  in  an  unusually  fecund 
state ;  therefore  the  pouring  forth  of  odes,  verses,  and  epi- 
thalamiums  in  celebration  of  this  marriage  was  beyond  all 
precedent.  Yet  to  load  the  page  w^ith  lame  and  tame  lines 
destitute  of  historical  allusion,  would  be  merely  exemplify- 
ing the  well-known  proceedings  of  an  antiquarian  maga- 
zine, as  bottling  up  dulness  in  an  ancient  bin."  Beau- 
mont's Masque  i  contains  the  only  beautiful  lines  suggested 
by  Elizabeth's  marriage — beautiful  despite  of  Mercury  and 
Iris,  who  contrive,  notwithstanding  the  heaviness  of  their 
heathen  divinityships,  to  be  piquant  and  picturesque.  The 
King  sent  his  state  barges  for  the  gentlemen  performers  to 
Winchester  House  on  the  Saturday  evening.  The  bride 
and  bridegroom,  with  the  rest  of  the  royal  family,  seated 
themselves  in  the  privy  gallery  at  Whitehall,  which  com- 
manded a  fine  view  down  the  reaches  of  the  Thames. 
Here  they  sat  nearly  in  the  dark  to  enjoy  the  sight  of  the 
illuminated  pageant  coming  up  the  river,  and  the  landing 

1  Chamberlain  to  Carlton — MS.  News-letter. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


49 


of  the  characters  all  In  their  appropriate  dresses  at  Privy 
Stairs.  They  then  adjourned  to  the  Banqueting-hall,  King 
James  having  ordered  proclamation  against  farthingales/ 
which  he  declared  took  up  an  unreasonable  portion  of  the 
room  in  his  court.''  The  proclamation  was  really  needed ;  for 
in  one  of  the  preceding  masques  in  honour  of  this  marriage, 
the  ladies  had  stuck  fast  in  the  galleries,  and  could  not  enter 
the  hall.  The  interdict  caused  by  this  comical  incident,  which 
occurred  more  than  once  in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  is  gravely 
quoted  as  one  of  the  King's  tyrannical  laws.  However,  by 
favour  of  the  royal  forecast,  the  passages  of  Whitehall  were 
on  this  occasion  kept  clear  of  these  formidable  circles  of  stif- 
fened brocade.  Our  Templar  authority  says,  there  was 
choice  room  reserved  for  the  gentlemen  of  both  houses,  who, 
coming  in  troop  about  seven  of  the  clock,  received  that 
special  honour  and  noble  favour  as  to  be  brought  to  their 
places  by  the  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Northampton,  Lord 
Privy  Seal,  and  thus  set  forth  their  device  and  argument. 
Jupiter  and  Juno  willing  to  do  honour  to  the  marriage 
of  two  famous  rivers — the  Thames  and  Rhine  ;  employ 
their  messengers  severally — Mercury  and  Iris.  The  fabric 
or  scene  was  a  mountain  with  two  descents,  and  severed 
with  two  traverses.  At  the  entrance  of  the  King,  the  first 
traverse  was  drawn,  and  the  lower  descent  of  the  mountain 
discovered,  which  was  the  pendant  of  a  hill  to  the  life,  with 
divers  boscages  and  grovets  upon  the  steep  or  hanging 
grounds  thereof,  and  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  four  delicate 
fountains  running  with  water,  and  bordered  with  sedges  and 
water  -  flowers.  Iris  first  appeared,  and  presently  after 
Mercury,  striving  to  overtake  her.  Iris,  apparelled  in  a 
robe  of  discoloured  taff^eta,  figured  in  variable  colours  like  a 
rainboAV,  a  cloudy  wreath  on  her  head  and  tresses.  Mer- 

1  The  Masque  of  the  Inner  Temple  and  Gray's  Inn,  presented  before  his 
Majesty,  the  Queen's  Majesty,  the  Prince  Count  Palatine,  and  the  Lady 
Elizabeth,  their  Highnesses,  in  the  Banqueting-house,  at  Whitehall,  on 
Saturday,  20th  day  of  Feb.  1612.  This  masque  was  the  production  of 
Beaumont  alone,  without  the  aid  of  Fletcher.  Dedicated  to  the  worthy 
Sir  Francis  Bacon,  his  Majesty's  Solicitor- General,  and  to  the  Grave  and 
Learned  Bench  of  the  anciently  allied  Houses  of  Gray's  Inn  and  the  Inner 
Temple. 

VOL.  VIIT.  D 


50 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


cury,  in  doublet  and  hose  of  white  taffeta,  a  white  hat,  speak- 
ing to  Iris  as  follows  : — 

'  Stay — stay  ! 
Stay  light-foot  Iris  !  for  thou  strivest  in  vain, 
My  wings  are  nimbler  than  thy  feet. 

Ibis. — Away, 
Dissembling  Mercury,  my  messages 
Ask  honest  haste,  not  like  those  wanton  ones 
Your  thundering  father  sends. 

Mer. — Stay,  foolish  maid, 
Or  I  will  take  my  rise  upon  a  hill 
When  I  perceive  thee  seated  in  a  cloud 
In  all  the  painted  glory  that  thou  hast, 
And  never  cease  to  clap  my  willing  wings 
Till  I  catch  hold  of  thy  discoloured  bow, 
And  shiver  it  beyond  the  angry  power 
Of  thy  curst  mistress  to  make  up  again. 

'  I  only  come 
To  celebrate  the  long- wished  nuptials 
Here  in  Olympus,  which  are  now  performed 
Betwixt  two  goodly  rivers,  which  have  mixed 
Their  gently-rising  waves,  and  are  to  grow 
Into  a  thousand  streams  great  as  themselves. 
I  need  not  name  them,  for  the  sound  is  loud 
In  heaven  and  earth. 

'  Thou  shalt  stand 
Still  as  a  rock  whilst  I — to  bless  this  feast 
Will  summon  up  with  my  all-charming  rod 
The  nymphs  of  fountains,  from  whose  watery  locks 
(Hung  with  the  dew  of  blessing  and  increase) 
The  greedy  rivers  take  their  nourishment. 
Ye  nymphs,  who  bathing  in  your  loved  springs. 
Beheld  these  rivers  in  their  infancy, 
And  joyed  to  see  them,  when  their  circled  heads 
Refreshed  the  air,  and  spread  the  ground  with  flowers, 
Rise  from  your  wells  ! ' 

Four  Naiades  rise  gently  out  of  their  several  fountains, 
attired  in  long  habits  of  sea-green  taffeta,  with  bubbles  of 
crystal  intermixed,  with  powdering  of  silver  resembling 
drops  of  water,  bluish  tresses,  garlands  of  water-lilies  on 
their  heads : 

'  Iris. — Is  Hermes  grown  a  lover?  By  what  power 
Unknown  to  us  calls  he  the  Naiades  ? 

Mer. — Presumptuous  Iris — I  could  make  thee  dance 
Till  thou  forgo ttest  thy  lady's  messages 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


51 


And  ran'st  back  crying  to  her.    Thou  shalt  know 
My  power  is  more,  only  my  breath,  and  this, 
Shall  move  fixed  stars,  and  force  the  firmament 
To  yield  the  Hyades,  who  govern  showers 
And  dewy  clouds,  in  whose  dispersed  drops 
Thou  formest  the  shape  of  thy  deceitful  bow. 
Ye  maids,  who  yearly  at  appointed  times 
Advance  with  kindly  tears  the  gentle  floods, 
Descend  and  pour  your  blessing  on  these  streams. 
Which,  rolling  down  from  heaven-aspiring  hill, 
And  now  united  in  the  fruitful  vales. 
Bear  all  before  them  ravished  with  their  joy, 
And  swell  in  glory  till  they  know  no  bounds  ! ' 

Then  five  Hyades  descended  softly  in  a  cloud  from  the 
firmament,  apparelled  in  sky-coloured  taffeta  spangled  like 
the  heavens,  golden  tresses,  and  each  a  fair  star  on  her 
forehead ;  at  whose  sight  the  Naiades,  seeming  to  rejoice, 
met  them  and  joined  in  a  dance  : 

'  Iris. — Great  wit  and  power  hath  Hermes,  to  contrive 
A  lifeless  dance  which  of  one  sex  consists  ! ' 

Enter  four  Cupids  from  each  side  of  the  boscage,  attired 
in  flame-coloured  taffeta  close  to  their  bodies.  Mercury 
then  charms  into  life  four  golden  statues  from  Jove's  altar. 
These  were  attired  in  cases  of  gold  and  silver  close  to  their 
bodies,  faces,  hands,  and  feet,  nothing  seen  but  gold  and 
silver,  as  if  they  had  been  solid  images  of  that  metal ; 
tresses  of  hair  as  if  metal  embossed,  girdles  of  oaken  leaves 
carved  or  mounted,  but  of  metal.  At  their  coming,  the 
music  changed  from  violins  to  hautboys,  and  utterly  turned 
into  a  soft  time  with  drawn  notes.  The  statues  were  placed 
in  such  postures,  sometimes  all  together  in  the  centre  of  the 
dance,  and  sometimes  in  the  four  angles,  as  was  very  grace- 
ful, besides  the  novelty. 

'  Iris. — I  now  must  strive 
To  imitate  confusion.    Therefore  thou, 
Delightful  Flora,  if  thou  ever  felt'st 
Increase  of  sweetness  in  those  blooming  plants 
On  which  the  horns  of  my  fair  bow  decline. 
Send  hither  all  the  rural  company 
Which  deck  the  Maygames  with  their  country  sports.* 

"The  Anti-masque  at  this  rushed  in  to  dance  their  mea- 
sure, and  as  rudely  departed ;  they  consisting  of  a  Pedant, 


62 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


a  May-lord,  a  May-lady,  a  Serving-man,  a  Chamber-maid,  a 
Clown,  a  Wench,  a  Host,  a  Hostess,  a  he-Baboon,  a  she- 
Baboon,  a  he-Fool,  and  a  she-Fool,  ushering  them  in.  All 
these  persons  attired  to  the  life,  the  men  issuing  out  of  one 
boscage,  the  women  from  the  other.  The  music  was  ex- 
tremely well  fitted,  having  such  a  spirit  of  country  jollity  in 
it  as  can  hardly  be  expressed  ;  but  the  perpetual  laughter 
and  applause  was  above  the  music.  The  dancers,  or  rather 
actors,  expressed  their  parts  naturally,  that  no  one^s  eye 
could  satisfy  which  did  best.  It  pleased  his  Majesty  to  call 
for  it  again  at  the  end,  as  he  did  likewise  for  the  first  dance 
in  the  masque  ;  but  one  of  the  statues  by  that  time  was 
undressed.''  ^ 

The  marriage  pageants  ended  with  a  pretty  festive  pro- 
gress down  the  Thames  of  the  young  bride,  who,  after 
standing  godmother  for  the  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Salis- 
bury, at  Whitehall  Chapel,  assisted  by  Frederic,  carried  the 
babe  home  to  Cecil  House.  Their  barge  was  surrounded 
by  those  of  all  the  guests  who  accompanied  the  princely 
pair  to  the  christening  banquet,  where  the  revel  continued 
far  into  the  night.^  Notwithstanding  the  impoverishment 
of  his  finances  by  his  long  sojourn  in  expensive  and  extra- 
vagant London,  the  Palatine  bestowed  on  his  bride  a 
costly  gift.  During  their  ensuing  promenade  in  Spring 
Gardens,  then  the  pleasance  and  aviary  of  Whitehall 
Palace,  looking  into  St  James's  Park,  a  triumphal  chariot, 
blazing  with  gold  and  embroidery,  drawn  by  six  white 
horses,  and  surrounded  by  attendants  in  the  livery  of  Eliza- 
beth, came  glittering  in  view.  It  was  the  new  carriage 
which  the  bridegroom  had  ordered  from  Paris,^  for  her 
entrance  into  the  Rhenish  cities  and  her  own  capital.  It  had 

^  GifFord's  edition  of  the  works  of  Beaumont  and  Fletcher.  The  apparel 
for  the  masquers  was  at  the  expense  of  the  Society.  The  Readers  being 
assessed  each  man  at  L.4  ;  the  Ancients,  and  such  as  were  at  that  time 
called  Ancients,  at  L.2,  10s.  a-picce  ;  the  Barristers  at  L.2  a  man  ;  and 
the  Students  at  L.l.  Which  being  performed,  there  was  an  order  made 
on  the  18th  May  following,  that  the  gentlemen  who  were  actors  in  that 
masque  should  bring  in  all  their  masquer ing  apparel  provided  at  the  charge 
of  the  House. 

2  Chamberlain  to  Carlton— MS.  News-letter,  Feb.  25,  1613. 
^  Ibid.,  and  P.M.  Records. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


53 


been  kept  as  a  surprise  to  the  youthful  bride^  and  apparently 
gave  her  great  delight. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  marriage  festivities,  the  King  set 
out  on  progress  to  Theobald's,  towards  Newmarket,  mean- 
ing to  visit  Cambridge,  and  cross  the  country  to  Oxford ; 
his  son-in-law,  accompanied  by  Prince  Charles,  followed 
him,  leaving  the  bride  with  her  royal  mother  at  Greenwich 
Palace.  The  progress  was  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the 
young  German  potentate  the  spring  sports  at  Newmarket 
and  Koyston,  and  the  seats  of  learning  in  South  Britain.  The 
bride  remained  with  her  dejected  mother  at  Greenwich  Pal- 
ace, preparing  her  for  the  approaching  parting.  The  royal 
family  reassembled  for  that  parting  at  Whitehall  on  Easter 
Sunday,  when  the  Palatine,  to  their  great  satisfaction,  took 
the  sacrament  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land.^ The  Queen  exacted  a  promise  from  her  son-in-law 
that  he  would  always  give  precedence  to  Elizabeth  as  a 
king's  daughter  and  his  superior  in  rank,  wheresoever  they 
might  be,  at  home  or  abroad.  This  mischievous  piece  of  folly 
did  not  originate  with  Elizabeth's  father,  but  with  her 
mother,  as  all  corroborating  circumstances  prove.  It  would 
have  utterly  destroyed  her  wedded  happiness,  if  both  herself 
and  Frederic  had  not  been  truly  good-natured. 

The  rendezvous  for  Elizabeth's  departure  for  Germany 
was  the  naval  palace  of  Greenwich.  She  previously  took  the 
opportunity,  one  morning  in  the  Easter  week,  of  showing 
her  spouse  the  lions  of  the  Tower  of  London,  historical  and 
zoological,  and  amazed  him  with  her  own  valour  by  taking 
a  match  from  the  gunners  and  firing  off  one  of  the  cannons 
prepared  for  saluting  her  barge  when  issuing  out  of  the 
Watergate.    She  was  girlishly  fond  of  such  display. 

The  King  and  Queen  accompanied  their  daughter  and 
her  husband,  April  13,^  in  the  usual  state,  down  the  Thames 
from  Greenwich  Palace  to  Gravesend,  and  finally  to  Eo- 
Chester,  where  they  were  entertained  at  the  Bishop's  palace. 
The  whole  of  the  morning  of  April  14  was  passed  by  King 
James,  his  son-in-law,  his  daughter,  and  the  Prince  of  Wales, 

Howe's  Chronicle. 
*  Chamberlain  to  Carlton,  March  11. 


54 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


in  the  examination  of  various  ships  and  galleys  constructing 
at  Chatham.  That  afternoon,  the  last  farewell  took  place 
between  the  parents  and  child.  Queen  Anne's  grief  was  over- 
powering, insomuch  that  she  was  forced  to  be  carried  from 
the  presence  of  her  weeping  daughter.  The  King  blessed 
his  daughter  solemnly,  and  laid  his  injunction  upon  her  to 
communicate  with  no  church  but  her  own.  He  reiterated, 
as  his  parting  command,  that  she  should  give  precedence  to 
no  one,  her  mother's  low  ambition  regarding  her  queenship 
being  the  prompting  motive.  Young  Frederic  promised 
that  she  should  retain  her  precedence  as  Princess-royal  of 
Great  Britain  in  Germany,  over  himself,  his  mother,^  and 
every  other  mortal,  to  his  own  future  discomfort.  The 
Prince  of  Wales  accompanied  his  sister  and  her  spouse  to 
Canterbury.  They  were  received  by  the  mayor  and  his 
train  with  the  usual  forms,  and  conducted  at  once  to  the 
glorious  cathedral,  and  feasted  in  the  fine  ancient  hall 
of  St  Augustine,  having  for  their  private  abode,  like  all  royal 
personages,  the  Dean's  house.  There  they  remained  wait- 
ing for  a  fair  wind  to  waft  them  from  Margate,  where  their 
naval  escort  was  long  detained  by  one  of  those  obstinate 
"  sets  in of  easterly  gales,  which  so  often  characterise  our 
wayward  English  Aprils. 

At  Canterbury,  while  Elizabeth,  her  spouse,  and  her 
young  brother,  were  detained  by  the  friendly  wind  which 
delayed  their  last  parting,  not  caring  if  easterly  winds 
blew  strongly  the  remainder  of  the  year,  her  faithful  maitre- 
d'hdtel^  Meinhard  Schomberg,  suffered  the  most  harass- 
ing tribulation  concerning  supernumeraries  in  the  service 
of  his  illustrious  mistress.  This  estimable  officer  had  early 
discovered  that  the  royal  lady  had  never  learned  how  to  say 
''no;''  and  the  absurd  consequence  was,  that  from  a  too 
ample  train  of  forty-nine  servants,  the  number  of  attendants, 
including  those  of  her  husband,  had  swelled  to  nearly  seven 
hundred,  two-thirds  of  whom  were  intruders,  and  withal 
clamouring  and  greedy  place-hunters,  all  urging  claims  and 
promises  old  and  new.    The  disturbances,  before  the  bride 

'  State-Paper  MSS.  Many  letters  from  Scbomberp:,  to  whose  infinite 
embarrassment  this  absurd  promise  greatly  contributed. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


55 


and  bridegroom  left  London,  totally  reversed  the  tranquil- 
lity of  the  royal  family ;  and  the  chief  part  of  the  calumnies 
on  James  I,  as  the  most  unnatural  and  neglectful  of  pa- 
rents, were  gathered  by  political  historians  from  the  angry 
expressions  of  these  disappointed  gentry.  Dire  was  the  toil, 
and  awful  the  responsibility,  of  the  luckless  Schomberg,  both 
before  he  left  Whitehall  and  afterwards  at  Canterbury,  when 
sorting  the  turbulent  pretenders  to  office  from  the  men  and 
women  good  and  true,  who  were  the  real  servitors  of  the 
Lord  and  Lady  of  the  Rhine ;  but  many  a  black  sheep  the 
hapless  maitre-d' hotel  retained,  to  his  after  tribulation,  as 
his  letters,  still  in  our  archives,  fully  prove.  At  last  the 
household  of  the  Palatine  was  arranged  and  conducted  to 
Margate  by  the  indefatigable  Schomberg,  where  they  were 
embarked  on  board  the  British  ships  of  war  there  lying 
under  sailing  orders,  whenever  it  pleased  the  perversity  of 
the  ancient  Anglo-Saxon  goddess-fiend,  yclept  Easter,  to 
permit  their  departure.-^ 

Even  as  lately  as  the  early  part  of  the  present  century, 
biographers  who  alluded  to  Elizabeth,  found  it  indis- 
pensable to  mention  her  as  the  object  of  her  father's  hatred, 
neglect,  and  persecution.  Because  the  easterly  wind  detained 
her  a  few  days,  she  was,  by  an  odd  perversion  of  speech, 
termed  by  the  sapient  historians  from  whom  modern  writers 
have  copied,  an  outcast.  And  this  was  done  in  fear  of  the 
abuse  of  the  critical  press,  knowledge  of  history  being  limited 
to  the  assertions  of  interested  politicians,  who  said  just  what 
they  pleased,  unrestrained  by  the  diurnal  notitia  of  a  public 
press.  The  simple  facts  of  the  case  were,  that  no  princess 
had  ever  left  England  or  Scotland  so  nobly  provided  for, 
present  and  future.  Her  father,  besides  the  dower  men- 
tioned, allowed  her  an  annuity  of  £4000  per  annum,  besides 
paying  the  salaries  of  her  English  attendants  —  a  stipend 
surpassing  the  provision  of  any  English  Queen,  being  more- 
over sent  out  of  the  country,  while  our  Queens  were  always 
forced  to  spend  their  incomes  in  England. 

The  authorised  train  of  the  Princess,  when  she  left  Eng- 
land, consisted  of  her  lady  of  honour,  Anne  Dudley;  three 

1  Miss  Benger. 


56 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


maidens,  Mrs  Dean,  the  keeper  of  the  linen,  three  English 
laundresses,  and  a  damsel,  office  unknown,  called  Maria 
Smith.  Sir  Andrew  Keith,  master  of  the  horse,  is  at  the 
head  of  the  list  of  Elizabeth's  officers.  Mr  Elphinstone  was 
her  secretary,  Thomas  Livingstone  her  treasurer,  James 
Livingstone  her  cupbearer,  Mr  Bringel  her  carver;  Dr 
Chapman,  chaplain;  Dr  Christian  Rumpf,  physician;  Mr 
Gray,  quartermaster;  John  Spence,  tailor;  Lazarus  Terence 
and  WiUiam  Short,  helpers.^ 

From  Canterbury  Elizabeth  wrote  an  affectionate  girlish 
note  2  to  her  indulgent  sire,  April  18,  rather  more  remark- 
able for  its  euphuism  than  for  its  wisdom,  calling  him  "  the 
flower  of  princes,''  as  well  as  the  king  of  fathers,"  tropes 
and  figures  which  may  be  forgiven  a  loving  daughter  of 
sixteen,  whose  judgment  was  not  quite  so  strong  as  party 
eulogists  have  pretended.  Two  days  afterwards  she  wrote 
to  Sir  Julius  Caesar,^  her  father's  Master  of  the  EoUs,  to  be- 
stir himself  concerning  a  very  extensive  order  for  jewellery 
as  wedding  presents  on  taking  leave  of  her  friends. 

Good  Sir  Julius  Caesar, — If  you  be  remembered,  I  did  send  you  a  note, 
signed  with  my  own  hand,  on  the  10  th  of  September,  containing  the  num- 
ber and  prices  of  rings  which,  as  tokens  of  my  affection,  I  have  bestowed  on 
my  friends.  Now  I  do  send  you  another  bill  [list],  which  shall  show  you 
the  number  and  prices  of  rings  distributed  amongst  those  who,  taking  their 
leave,  did  require  some  token  which  I  could  not  deny,  and  having  nothing 
to  confer  [bestow]  was  constrained  to  make  Jacob  Harderet,  my  jeweller, 
furnish  me  with  these  rings,  which  I  do  acknowledge  by  my  signet  api^osed 
^  to  this  last  bill,  to  have  received  and  given  away.  You  know  that  it  is  fit- 
ting my  quality,  at  the  time  of  my  parting  from  my  natural  country,  to  leave 
some  small  remembrance  of  me  among  my  aflfectionate  friends ;  but  that 
anything  employed  for  my  use  should  rest  unpaid,  doth  not  well  become 
my  quality."  4 

This  was  an  undeniable  truth,  and  the  feeling  regarding 
it  was  a  foretaste  of  that  life-long  embarrassment  of  debt 
and  difficulty  which  Elizabeth  suffered,  owing  to  her  impru- 

1  German  Quarto  of  the  Marriage  Fetes,  published  at  Frankenthal. 
^  MS.  British  Museum,  in  Add. 

^  Ibid.  This  legalist,  whose  classical  name  has  caused  the  most  absurd 
mistakes,  belonged  to  an  Italian  family  naturalised  in  the  palaces  of  the 
Tudors  since  the  days  of  Katherinc  of  Arragon,  whoso  physician  was  by 
name  Antonio  Csesar. 

At  Canterbury,  April  20. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


57 


dence  m  supplying  the  expectations  of  others  by  exten- 
sive orders  which  she  had  no  immediate  means  of  liquidating. 
She  concludes  by  urging  Sir  Julius  Caesar  to  see  her  jeweller 
honestly  paid,  and  that  she  had  her  royal  father's  leave 
for  the  same. 

The  new  honours  and  duties  which  had  devolved  on  the 
Prince  of  Wales  since  his  succession  to  his  deceased  bro- 
ther's dignity  of  heir-apparent,  obliged  him  to  bid  farewell 
to  Elizabeth  and  her  husband  at  Canterbury,  21st  April, 
and  hasten  to  London  to  prepare  for  his  recognition  at  the 
festival  of  St  George,  April  23.  The  day  they  parted  with 
him,  Elizabeth  and  Frederic  went  to  Margate,  and  embarked 
in  tlie  "  Prince  Royal,''  the  flagship  of  Lord  Effingham,  the 
aged  hero  of  the  Armada  victories.  Scarcely  were  they  on 
board  when  storms  arose,  which  tossed  them  up  and  down 
many  hours  on  our  dangerous  eastern  coast.  At  last  the 
sea-wearied  bride,  her  lord  and  attendants,  were  glad  to 
find  themselves  blown  back  into  the  friendly  port  of  Margate. 
So  loth  seemed  the  island  gales  to  waft  away  the  Princess 
to  fulfil  the  career  she  subsequently  pursued.  A  skilful  Dutch 
pilot,  called  Professor  More,''  came  over  from  Maurice, 
Prince  of  Orange,  in  his  pilot  cutter.  This  navigator, 
taking  advantage  of  a  tempest  which  blew  the  right  way, 
steered  the  bride-princess  and  her  spouse  swiftly  and  safely 
to  Flushing,  where  they  arrived  on  the  morning  of  April  28. 
Instead  of  landing,  the  bride  received  visits  from  the 
Stadtholder,  Maurice  Prince  of  Orange,  who  was  regaled 
with  a  fine  supper  on  board  the  flagship  of  the  English 
Admiral.  This  celebrated  man  was  her  husband's  eldest 
uncle  on  the  maternal  side:  he  was  accompanied  by  her 
old  acquaintance  the  younger  Orange  prince,  Henry,  who 
had  been  so  long  in  England  with  her  husband  ;  but, 
more  fortunate  than  herself,  the  vessel  in  which  he  had 
embarked  had  gained  his  native  coast  some  days  previously, 
and  he  was  there  ready  to  welcome  her,  and  to  superintend 
the  Dutch  festivals  with  which  it  was  the  intent  of  the  House 
of  Orange  to  greet  her.  If  the  bride  and  her  party  remained 
on  board  ship  until  the  29th  of  April,  in  expectation  of  some 
uncommon  display  of  magnificence  from  Maurice  the  Stadt- 


58 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


holder,  they  were  disappointed.  The  astute  soldier-states- 
man did  not  waste  his  means  on  such  follies  as  pageantries. 
All  his  grandeur  consisted  in  a  very  well  appointed  admiral's 
barge,  indicative  of  his  rank,  being  the  sea-soldier  as  well  as 
land-general  of  the  alluvial  republic.  In  this  vessel  he 
brought  his  new  niece  on  shore.  But  not  a  velvet  cushion 
or  a  gay  flag  had  been  added  on  her  account ;  and  when 
she  stepped  on  the  pier  at  Flushing,  no  gilt  litter  or  richly 
caparisoned  palfrey  awaited  her, — not  even  a  matted  footway. 
She  had  to  place  her  dainty  feet  on  the  bare  earth,  and  walk 
without  even  a  canopy  borne  over  her  to  the  place  of  her 
destination  :  a  deafening  discharge  of  artillery  from  the 
fortifications  of  Flushing,  emulated  by  the  admiral's  ship 
she  had  quitted,  being  the  only  royal  compliment  allowed 
to  her.^ 

When  her  husband  had  consigned  her  to  the  care  of  his 
uncle  Maurice,  at  Flushing  Castle,  he  sailed  to  the  Hague,^ 
to  prepare  a  reception  for  his  bride  more  in  coincidence 
with  the  tastes  in  which  she  had  been  nurtured,  and  for 
which  it  must  be  owned  that,  with  the  exception  of  her 
mother,  she  had  the  most  unbounded  passion  of  all  her  race. 
However,  the  natural  influence  of  the  most  original  genius 
of  his  day,  Maurice  of  Orange,  in  whose  guardianship  she 
was  left,  caused  her  to  take  all  in  good  part.  She  was  al- 
ways sweet-tempered,  and  thus  she  won  the  heart  of  her 
uncle  Maurice,  as  well  as  by  her  youthful  charms  and  graces, 
as  she  found  to  her  pecuniary  benefit  years  afterwards.  His 
friendship,  moreover,  proved  a  stalwart  bulwark  to  her  and 
hers,  when  most  that  she  relied  on  in  this  world  failed.  The 
portrait  of  this  distinguished  relative,  with  whom  she  was 
left  to  be  escorted  to  the  Hague,  is  drawn  by  the  faithful 
and  graphic  pencil  of  a  contemporary. 

Maurice,  like  most  of  the  house  of  Nassau,  was  low  in 
stature,  but,  unlike  many  of  them,  neither  crooked  nor  lean. 
On  the  contrary,  he  was  rather  inclined  to  corpulence ;  his 
complexion,  naturally  very  fair,  was  now  tinged  with  yel- 
low, no  marvel  to  those  who  knew  his  style  of  diet ;  his 
brow  and  head  mighty  enough  to  atone  for  his  lymphatic 
1  Carleton  Harleian  MS.  2  ibj^j. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


69 


temperament  and  sandy  hue  ;  lils  eyes  light  grey,  with  a 
singular  expression  of  fun  and  sagacity  enlightening  them/ 
He  was  noted  for  his  wit  and  dry  humour,  and  was  the 
most  successful  land  and  sea  soldier,  statesman  and  financier, 
of  his  day.  Elizabeth  had  sufficient  information  to  know 
that  this  great  man  had  nobly  continued  the  work  that  his 
father,  William  of  Orange  the  Liberator,  had  begun.  She 
treated  him  with  the  respect  and  attention  due  to  the  hero 
of  his  country,  and  thus  gave  the  best  proof  of  mind  per- 
haps she  ever  displayed  :  for  the  outward  appearance  of 
her  new  uncle  was  not  such  as  usually  pleases  girls  of 
seventeen.  Maurice  of  Orange  received  Elizabeth  as  a 
pledge  strangely  thrown  into  the  hands  of  the  Calvinist 
party  by  the  youthful  enthusiasm  of  her  dying  brother, 
Henry  Prince  of  Wales. 

Although  the  head  of  the  Holland  republic  was  econo- 
mical to  parsimony,  such  was  not  the  case,  he  very  well 
knew,  with  his  constituents,  their  High  Mightinesses  the 
States-General.  In  order  to  meet  them,  Maurice  and  his 
fair  niece,  with  her  train  of  ladies,  set  out  betimes  on  a  land 
journey  to  the  Hague.  The  party  took  their  way  through 
Middleburg.  Elizabeth  met  her  husband  at  Rotterdam, 
who  conducted  her  to  Scheveling,  near  the  Hague,  where 
there  was  an  attempt  made  to  amuse  her  with  the  perform- 
ance of  some  flying  chariots  worked  with  sails  like  wind- 
mills ;  but  the  wind  refused  to  blow,  and  the  chariots  refused 
to  fly.  At  the  Hague  commenced  the  splendour  of  Eliza- 
beth's bridal  continental  progress.  Here  she  met  a  congress 
of  her  own  cousins  of  the  line  of  Brunswick,  with  many  of 
her  husband's  German  relatives,  most  of  whom  were  vassals 
of  the  great  Palatinate,  and  some  of  them,  as  the  members 
of  the  Solms  and  Nassau  Dietz  families,  were  to  fill  offices 
of  state  about  the  Elector  Palatine,  her  lord. 

The  merchant  princes  of  the  Hague  had  done  their  devoir 
nobly  at  her  reception,  having  expended  the  sum  of  dt^20,000 

1  The  accuracy  of  this  sketch  must  be  acknowledged  by  every  one  who 
has  beheld  that  marvel  of  Dutch  portraiture,  the  likeness  of  Maurice  of 
Orange,  in  Lord  Northwick's^  North  wick  Hall,  in  Gloucestershire.  The  life- 
like expression  of  the  countenance  is  such,  that  the  Stadtholder  can  never 
die  while  that  portrait  exists. 


60 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


on  entertainments,  in  sundry  dull  fetes  during  her  sojourn 
of  a  few  May-days.  As  for  Prince  Maurice,  she  supped  and 
dined  at  his  table  when  nothing  public  was  going  on.  The 
bill  of  fare  of  one  of  Prince  Maurice's  entertainments  must 
not  be  omitted.  At  the  head  of  the  supper-table  was  placed 
a  roasted  sucking-pig,  and  at  the  bottom  another  sucking- 
pig,  but  boiled  !  Eels  and  boiled  pork  were  the  eyitremets 
of  this  truly  original  supper.^ 

When  the  day  of  the  bride's  departure  drew  near,  their 
high  mightinesses  the  States-General,  after  many  civil 
speeches,  introduced  to  her  attention  a  cushion  finely  per- 
fumed, on  which  reposed  a  corbeille  of  gold  tissue,  and  that 
being  uncovered,  displayed  a  number  of  rich  gifts  peculiarly 
acceptable  to  brides  in  their  teens,  being  a  string  of  twenty- 
five  great  oriental  pearls,  forming  the  throat  necklace  so 
famous  in  the  annals  of  costume  in  that  century,  as  the 
readers  of  Madame  de  Sevigne  very  well  know\  Two  great 
pendent  pear  pearls ;  a  carcanet  collar  or  necklace  of  em- 
bossed gold,  set  with  thirty-six  diamonds  ;  a  large  hair  bod- 
kin with  a  great  table  diamond  set  at  the  end,  with  diamonds 
richly  embossed,  pendent  therefrom.  To  these  costly  gems 
the  munificent  Dutchmen  added  valuables  of  their  own 
manufacture,  or  products  from  their  trade  with  China  and 
Japan.2  There  were  sixty  beautiful  pieces  of  Dutch  damask 
for  table  linen,  exquisite  tapestry  from  the  looms  of  the 
famous  Francis  Spiring,  which  rivalled  or  surpassed  the  re- 
nowned Gobelins,  and  a  whole  chamber  furniture  of  black 
and  gold,  called  China  work  by  the  memorialist,  but  certainly 
from  Japan,  consisting  of  a  bedstead,  several  chests,  cabi- 
nets, fruit-dishes,  plates,  and  trays,  too  numerous  to  men- 
tion.   Her  bridegroom  again  left  Elizabeth  to  the  care  of 

^  Letter  of  Hay,  Earl  of  Carlisle,  who  married  Lady  Lucy  Percy.  Pie  was 
one  of  James  the  First's  most  dainty  favourites  ;  he  had  been  regaled,  to 
his  great  disgust,  with  the  same  kind  of  supper  when  negotiating  the  mar- 
riage. Every  one  knows  for  whom  King  James  thouglit  a  roasted  sucking- 
pig  and  a  pipe  of  tobacco  was  a  suitable  regale  ;  but  it  does  not  seem  that 
such  a  dish  as  a  hailed  sucking-pig  had  ever  entered  the  royal  imagination. 
Yet  Maurice  the  Stadtholder  was  a  very  groat  man^  notwithstanding  his 
taste  in  sucklings.  But  eels  and  pork,  the  favourite  dainties  in  Holland, 
are  even  now  little  pleasing  to  Scotch  palates. 

2  Additional  MS.,  British  Museum. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


61 


his  uncle  Maurice/  and  departed  for  his  dominions  of  the 
Palatinate,  from  whence  he  had  been  long  absent,  it  being 
necessary  that  he  should  make  some  exertions,  to  provide  for 
her  reception  something  in  the  ostentatious  mode  to  which 
she  had  been  accustomed,  and  in  which  she  took  more  de- 
light than  was  consistent  with  the  greatness  of  mind  attri- 
buted to  her.  She  left  Leyden  in  her  splendid  French 
chariot,  already  mentioned  at  her  marriage  fetes,  drawn  by 
four  white  horses ;  by  her  side  was  seated  the  Princess  of 
Nassau  DIetz.  She  was  escorted  by  Maurice,  and  many 
Dutch  and  German  cavaliers,  to  the  Stadtholder's  private 
residence  at  Leyden,  where  she  stayed  a  week,  and  from 
whence  she  made  excursions  to  all  the  rich  cities  around, 
then  in  the  very  pride  and  glory  of  their  commercial  weal. 
Rotterdam,  Amsterdam,  and  Haarlem,  were  explored  by 
her,  and  many  rich  presents  she  received  from  their  citi- 
zens. Above  all  she  astonished  the  Stadtholder  when  he 
took  her  to  hunt,  by  her  skill  and  activity  in  slaughtering 
deer. 

Under  the  care  of  her  warlike  uncle,  Maurice  the  Stadt- 
holder, the  Princess  traversed  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  cities, 
until  she  reached,  on  her  course  to  the  Palatinate,  pleasant 
Utrecht,  and  halted  at  the  family  hunting-seat  of  Rhenen, 
which  was  afterwards  to  prove  to  her  a  place  of  refuge  for 
many  a  season  when  her  fortunes  changed.  Here  she  lodged 
among  a  convent  of  nuns,^  to  whom  she  was  very  generous 
at  departure.  As  she  approached,  escorted  by  the  Orange 
princes,  Maurice  and  Henry,  her  husband's  uncles,  guarded 
by  a  powerful  squadron  of  Dutch  cavalry,  the  frontier  of 
the  Spanish  Netherlands,  the  Governess  Isabel,  Princess  of 
Spain,  sent  her  a  courteous  invitation,  which  was  declined 
by  her  Dutch  guardians,  in  jealous  apprehension  lest  some 
mischief  was  meditated  by  their  enemies.  The  Roman  Ca- 
tholic cities  of  Dusseldorf  and  Cologne  were  entered  cau- 
tiously by  Maurice  and  his  fair  charge,  who,  however,  was 
Indulged  by  viewing  the  curiosities  of  Cologne,  and  being 
introduced  to  the  relics  of  a  former  British  princess,  St 
Ursula,  with  her  eleven  thousand  Christian  virgins,  the 
^  Benger.  2  Mercure  de  France. 


62 


ELIZABETH  STUAKT. 


whole  of  which  fair  bevy,  it  is  to  be  feared,  were  a  female 
tribute  extorted  by  the  powerful  pagan  chiefs  of  Germany 
from  a  British  Christian  king,  when  British  Christianity 
waxed  weak  and  Saxon  paganhood  strong.^ 

At  Cologne  Elizabeth  made  some  stay,  long  enough  to 
sit  for  her  miniature  portrait,  so  small  that  it  was  set  in  a 
ring,  for  the  painting  of  which  she  paid  seventy-seven  dol- 
lars to  an  artist  afterwards  celebrated,  Michael  Jansen.2 
Her  stay  at  Cologne  drew  rather  deeply  on  her  privy  purse. 
Among  her  expenses,  however,  was  a  benevolent  item  of 
nearly  thirty  pounds  in  alms  to  the  poor  of  Cologne  and 
Dusseldorf.  These  bounties  increased  her  train  somewhat 
inconveniently  ;  before  she  reached  Cologne  her  followers 
amounted  to  more  than  three  thousand  persons. 

The  Stadtholder  Maurice  did  not  conclude  his  escort 
until  her  arrival  at  Bonn.  There  he  parted  from  his  niece, 
apparently  with  no  better  token  of  remembrance  than  kind- 
ness of  manner;  but  he  sent  after  her  a  costly  present  of  a 
diamond  chain,  worth  one  thousand  pounds,  which  he  had 
purchased  for  this  purpose  when  he  showed  her  the  curiosi- 
ties and  wealth  of  Amsterdam,  then  the  richest  commercial 
city  in  the  world.  She  presented  the  officer  who  had  charge 
of  this  magnificent  jewel  with  twenty  pounds,  and  the  stew- 
ard of  the  Prince  was  given  by  her  order  a  donation  of  two 
hundred  pounds.  At  Bonn  her  husband's  kinsman,  the  young 
Elector  of  Brandenburg,  welcomed  her  to  an  al  fresco  col- 
lation, which  his  attendants  had  spread  on  the  grass  at  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  bends  of  the  Rhine.  Before  Elizabeth 
now  appeared  a  little  gay  flotilla  of  highly  ornamented 
barges,  which  her  absent  husband  had  forwarded  to  receive 
her,  and  bring  her  by  the  highway  of  the  glorious  and 
abounding  river,  of  which  he  was  sovereign,  to  his  domi- 
nions. This  arrangement  may  be  considered  a  very  needful 
movement  of  economy  to  save  Elizabeth  from  the  enormous 
rabble  of  devourers  which  were  besetting  every  step  she 
travelled  on  land. 

The  principal  vessel  of  this  pretty  fleet  bore  her  flag,  and 

^  This  idea  is  confirmed  by  Roger  of  Wendover. 
2  State  Papers  ;  Winwood  and  Wotton's  Letters. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


63 


was  as  gaudy  as  paint,  gilding,  and  red  and  blue-coloured 
velvet,  could  make  it.  Elizabeth  was  at  first  excessively 
delighted  with  her  gilded  saloon,  in  which  she  floated  down 
the  exquisite  Rhine  at  her  ease  in  the  warmth  and  beauty  of 
sunny  May.  The  bride  was  suffered  to  land  for  the  nights 
at  some  friendly  ports  for  repose.  She  slept  at  Oberwinter 
in  a  nunnery,  and  rested  a  whole  Sunday  at  St  Goar,  under 
the  protection  of  her  husband's  relative,  the  Landgrave  of 
Hesse.  Elizabeth,  despite  of  the  lovely  views  which  opened 
themselves  at  every  turn  of  the  Rhine,  complained  of  the 
weariness  of  her  voyage,  when  she  found  several  towns 
were  passed  by;  but  on  her  entreaties  to  land,  she  heard  the 
towns  bore  a  bad  reputation  regarding  the  plague.  Thus 
she  sailed  by  ancient  Baccarach  discontentedly,  when  a 
swift  little  galley  shot  from  its  bay,  and  rowed  after  her 
flotilla.  Elizabeth  found  to  her  delight  that  it  contained 
her  husband,  who  came  on  board,  having  arranged  all  mat- 
ters to  give  her  a  fitting  welcome  in  his  Palatinate,  which 
was  now  close  at  hand.  In  the  afternoon  the  flotilla  anchored 
off  Gilsheim,  the  first  town  in  the  Palatinate  that  met  the 
eyes  of  its  new  mistress.  Throngs  of  her  subjects,  and  many 
carriages,  appeared  at  the  quay  and  Watergate  to  escort 
Elizabeth  to  the  banquet  prepared  for  her  welcome  at  the 
Hotel  de  Ville.  Firing  of  guns,  shoutings,  and  bonfires, 
announced  the  moment  when  her  foot  had  touched  her 
lord's  dominions. 

Among  the  other  inconveniences  which  Frederic  had 
sought  to  obviate  by  providing  a  passage  down  the  Rhine, 
was  the  extravagant  custom  of  giving  presents  at  the  cities 
through  which  Elizabeth  passed.  Hitherto  she  had  travelled 
at  her  father's  expense.  The  Peers  he  had  commissioned  to 
escort  her  safely  to  her  husband's  dominions,  Lennox, 
Arundel,  and  Harrington,  had  defrayed  all  cost ;  but  as  soon 
as  she  arrived  on  her  husband's  land  that  supply  ceased. 
Here  Elizabeth  betrayed  the  great  weakness  of  her  charac- 
ter, which  was  always  running  her  into  debt  and  difficulty. 
Instead  of  learning  her  husband's  directions,  and  acting 
according  to  the  customs  of  his  country,  she  chose  to 
give  as  profusely  as  before.    As  she  had  no  funds  in  her 


64 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


privy  purse,  she  drew  on  her  jeweller  In  England,  Jacob 
Herderet/  for  sums  to  keep  up  this  munificence,  adding  to 
the  account  she  had  already  run  up  with  him.  Rarely  after- 
wards was  Elizabeth  Stuart  clear  of  the  world.  The  Bishop 
of  Mayence,  Eoman  Catholic  although  he  was,  sent  a  kind 
invitation  to  the  English  princess  and  her  lord.  They  em- 
barked again,  and  floated  up  the  Rhine  to  that  ancient 
Roman  city,  where  Elizabeth  occupied  the  Emperor's  suite 
of  apartments. 

The  bridal  party  now  passed  on  to  Oppenheim,  which,  in 
the  first  days  of  blossoming  June,  almost  turned  itself  into 
a  city  of  flowers  to  welcome  her.  Among  the  triumphal 
arches  of  this  Rhenish  city,  the  first  band  of  music  was 
heard  by  her  since  she  left  England,  worthy  to  greet  her 
musical  ears.  The  next  place  to  which  they  proceeded 
was  Frankenthal,  the  principal  town  of  Elizabeth's  dower. 
Extraordinary  demonstrations  were  of  course  made  to  wel- 
come her ;  the  city  and  castle  were  covered  with  flowers 
by  day,  and  with  fireworks  at  night.  Elizabeth  made  her 
entry  in  her  famous  chariot,  drawn  by  the  white  horses ;  and 
being  met  by  the  warlike  burghers  of  Frankenthal,  in  a 
livery  of  blue  and  gold,  grey  hats  and  green  plumes,  they 
fired  ^  feu-de-joie,  and  formed  her  guard  of  honour  to  her 
dower-palace,  where,  from  the  balcony,  Elizabeth  and 
Frederic  beheld  all  the  quaint  doings  the  citizens  had  in- 
vented to  do  her  honour.  Just  opposite,  the  goldsmiths  of 
Frankenthal  had  built  a  stage  where  pageants  were  enacted, 
but  which  poured  forth  the  sweetest  strains  of  original  and 
well-executed  music,  to  the  delight  of  the  Princess,  who  was 
now  convinced  her  subjects,  unlike  the  Dutch  and  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Lower  Rhine,  were  a  musical  people.  The 
entertainments  were  representations  of  the  throne  of  Solo- 
mon and  the  city  of  Troy  ;  the  Queen  of  Sheba,  seated  by 
Solomon,  being  a  caricature  of  Elizabeth  in  her  bridal  dress. 
But  as  the  shades  of  evening  advanced,  both  the  city  of 
Troy  and  the  throne  of  Solomon  exploded  in  such  magnifi- 
cent fireworks,  that  the  English  attendants  of  the  Princess 
shouted  for  delight,  and  their  national  huzzas  greatly  pleased 
1  State-Paper  MSS. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


65 


the  good  folk  of  Frankentlial  as  well  as  the  Palatine  him- 
self.i 

Elizabeth  was  for  the  third  time  left  by  her  husband,  who 
speeded  forward  to  Heidelberg,  his  capital,  in  order  to  see 
that  all  things  were  arranged  for  her  solemn  entry,  and 
meeting  with  his  kindred  assembled  there  to  be  introduced 
to  her.  This  time  Elizabeth  was  left  at  home,  since  Frank- 
enthal,  her  dower-castle  and  town,  had  been  solemnly  sur- 
rendered to  her  father's  commissioners  for  her  use.  She 
remained  there  for  a  day  and  night  in  the  guardianship  of 
her  own  burghers. 

The  English  nobles  had  dropped  some  hints  to  the 
Palatine  that  they  were  disappointed  at  the  absence  of 
military  force  since  they  had  entered  his  dominions;  he 
therefore  chose  to  give  his  wife's  entry  into  his  capital  the 
character  of  a  review,  as  he  had  a  little  army  of  six  thousand 
men  at  Heidelberg,  and  great  stores  of  cannon  and  other 
artillery.  It  was  June  7th  when  Elizabeth  set  forward  with 
all  her  ladies  and  English  friends  towards  that  romantic 
Heidelberg,  which  has  since  undergone  such  strange  muta- 
tions. She  was  dressed  in  a  robe  of  cloth-of-gold,  a  high- 
crowned  hat  of  red  velvet,  with  white  plumes  and  a  standing 
ruff  and  collar.  She  travelled  in  a  close  carriage  until  she  met 
her  husband  ;  who,  after  having  drawn  up  his  little  force  on 
an  elevated  plain  some  distance  from  Heidelberg,  advanced 
to  meet  her,  riding  by  the  side  of  his  Regent,  John,  Duke 
of  Deuxponts,  his  young  brother  the  Palsgrave  Louis  Philip, 
Duke  of  Simmeren,  and  at  the  head  of  a  vast  train  of 
German  princes  and  counts,  some  his  vassals,  and  all  his 
kinsmen  and  allies.  When  Frederic  reached  his  wife's 
procession,  he  presented  himself  to  open  the  door  of  her 
coach ;  but  she  sprang  out,  and,  forgetful  of  all  ceremonial, 
threw  herself  into  his  arms.  After  their  loving  greeting 
was  over,  and  she  had  been  formally  presented  to  his  regent- 
cousin,  she  ascended  a  grand  canopied  car,  with  open  pillars, 
a  sort  of  travelling-throne,  in  which  she  made  her  entry  into 
the  capital  of  the  then  happy  Palatinate. 

1  Benger,  from  a  German  Journal.  Stowe. 
VOL.  VITI.  E 


66 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Taking  her  way  to  Heidelberg,  her  cortege  turned  from 
the  left  bank  of  the  Ehine,  and  wound  its  way  among  hills 
and  valleys  so  fair,  fertile,  and  smiling,  that  the  English 
guests — although  used  to  a  beautiful  land,  yet  not  ac- 
custon)ed  to  the  delicious  climate  which  matures  the  grape 
— with  one  consent  affirmed  that  it  seemed  as  if  the 
garden  of  Eden  lay  before  them,  as  they  descended  to  the 
valley  of  the  Neckar.^ 


*  Stowe.  Benger. 


ELIZABETH  STUART 


CHAPTEE  III. 

SUMMARY 

Elizabeth's  palace  at  Heidelberg — •Her  entry — Fishers'  tournaraent — She 
arrives  at  the  Silver  Hall  —  Her  husband's  female  relatives  —  Her 
reception  by  the  Electress-mother,  Juliana — Sports  and  pageants — 
Long  preaching  —  Elizabeth  retires  to  her  hunting-seat  —  Astonishes 
the  German  Princesses  by  killing  deer — Alarming  quarrels  of  the  Scotch 
and  English  in  her  household — Fight  in  her  presence — Lord  Harrington 
leaves  her  to  return  home — Diet  at  Worms — EHzabeth  insists  on  her 
precedency — Troubles  in  consequence — Diflerences  with  the  Electress 
Juliana,  who  retires  from  court — Is  invited  by  the  latter  to  a  farewell 
feast — Rural  day  spent  by  Elizabeth  and  her  ladies — Her  debts  and 
disquiet — Birth  of  her  eldest  son — Count  Schomberg  withdraws  from 
her  court — Her  consort  attains  his  majority — German  Protestants  place 
him  at  the  head  of  the  Calvinist  League — He  shrinks  from  the  civil  war 
— Ambition  of  his  consort — His  mother  recommends  peace — His  health 
gives  way  in  the  struggle — Elizabeth's  letter  to  her  father — She  per- 
suades Schomberg  to  return — Arranges  his  marriage  with  Anne  Dudley 
— Recovery  of  the  Elector —  Increased  happiness  of  Elizabeth's  wedlock 
— The  Elector  erects  an  arch  in  her  honour — Makes  her  an  English 
garden — Schomberg's  wise  rules  for  her  household — Elizabeth's  letter  to 
her  father  on  the  death  of  Countess  Schomberg — King  James  appoints 
Lord  Harrington's  daughter  as  her  first  lady — Birth  of  Elizabeth's  second 
son — Lord  Dorchester  sends  her  two  monkeys — How  she  spends  her 
mornings— Plot  revealed  to  her  by  Captain  Bell — How  the  Empress 
means  to  murder  her  and  her  babe — The  Empress's  invitation — Bell 
alarms  James  I. — Death  of  Elizabeth's  mother,  Queen  Anne — Germany 
ready  to  break  into  war — Crown  of  Bohemia  offered  to  Frederic — Eliza- 
beth urges  his  acceptance — Her  letter  to  her  father — Her  husband's 
vacillation. 

The  Castle  of  Heidelberg,  which  Elizabeth  entered  as  a 
bride,  surpassed  in  magnificence  and  extent  any  palace  that 
her  father  possessed  In  either  of  his  three  kingdoms.  It  has 
withal  a  most  remarkable  history.   It  was  founded  in  1346 


68 


ELIZABETH  ST'UART. 


by  the  great  ancestor  of  Frederic  V.,  Eupert  the  Eed, 
Palatine  of  the  Rhine  and  Duke  of  Bavaria.  On  the  side 
of  a  mighty  precipice  it  rears  itself,  terrace  over  terrace, 
towering  from  a  vast  height  over  the  beautiful  river 
Neckar.  A  mountainous  chain  circles  round  the  castle 
with  a  close  embrace,  but  opens  where  the  Neckar  rushes 
into  the  smiling  plain  beyond  the  gorge.  Our  Elizabeth  was 
little  longer  there  than  as  guest,  although  she  brought  on 
luckless  Heidelberg  its  centuries  of  suiFerings  and  final  deso- 
lation. In  1622  the  vengeful  Austrian  general  Tilly  took 
it  by  storm,  and  permitted  his  soldiers  to  stain  every  saloon 
of  its  magnificent  structures  with  atrocities  such  as  ought  to 
make  Christians  ashamed  of  war,  and  disgusted  with  glory. 
The  spoiler  seized  upon  the  library,  the  finest  in  the  world, 
and  carried  off  the  books,  the  delight  of  Elizabeth  and 
her  learned  Frederic,  to  Vienna.  The  University  of 
Heidelberg  had  a  great  loss  in  this  library  :  that  grand 
institution  was  likewise  founded  by  Eupert  the  Eed  ;  and 
whensoever  the  professors  or  students  needed  references, 
they  had  always  free  access  to  the  Palatine  Library.  It 
was  a  barbarous  deed  to  rob  a  university  of  its  books.  The 
Moslems  burnt  books  ;  Tilly  only  stole  them.^  Four  times 
in  forty  years  did  this  unfortunate  palace  suffer  siege  and 
sack.  Massacres  were  perpetrated  therein  too  numerous  to 
recapitulate.  At  last  nobody,  victor  or  vanquished,  cared  to 
remain  there  ;  and  the  repeated  desertions  of  Heidelberg,  of 
which  there  were  three  decided  ones,  resemble  those  of  some 
defunct  cities  in  the  East.  Of  course  it  was  reported  to  be 
fearfully  haunted  by  wicked  spirits.  How  any  could  be 
more  atrocious  than  those  inhabiting  the  human  forms  which 
had  worked  their  wicked  wills  there,  may  be  reasonably 
questioned. 

The  last  siege  of  Heidelberg  is  unexampled  in  the  his- 
tories of  battles  and  sieges,  occurring  in  the  Palatinate  wars 
of  Louis  XIV.  It  was,  as  before,  deserted,  after  means  of 
access  had  been  cut  off,  and  left  perfectly  desolate ;  but  so 
imposing  in  appearance,  so  commanding  in  site,  and  so  gay 

^  Polnitz. — The  Emperor  sent  all  the  duplicates  of  these  books  to  Rome, 
where  they  are  in  the  Vatican. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


69 


and  riant  with  Its  commanding  fa9ade,  that  the  French 
Marechal  L'Orge,  never  supposing  it  was  uninhabited, 
summoned  it  to  surrender.  The  lone  castle  replied  not ; 
indeed  it  could  not.  L'Orge  finding  it  was  not  a  castle 
"  qui  parle/'  besieged  it ;  but  its  grand  site  mocked  his 
cannon,  and  its  altitude  his  ladders.  Lights  were  seen 
glancing  by  night  through  its  vast  galleries,  and  from  win- 
dow to  window,  but  those,  the  good  burghers  of  the  town 
below  averred  and  believed  were  carried  by  its  espe- 
cial garrison  of  ghosts  and  Jack-o'-lanterns.  The  French 
Marechal  sat  down  to  starve  out  the  castle,  losing  much 
time  in  the  endeavour.  How  he  discovered  his  mistake  is  not 
told  ;  but  the  French  people,  who  In  their  joyous  days  made 
songs  on  everything,  celebrated  his  comical  siege  of  nobody 
in  a  ballad,  the  refrain  of  which  informed  the  world  that 
"L^Orge  would  have  taken  Heidelberg  had  he  found  the  door 
open.''  Yet  all  the  slaughterings,  plunderlngs,  burnings, 
mines,  sacks,  and  sieges,  did  not  destroy  the  love  of  the  old 
Protestant  line  of  the  Palatine  to  its  princely  eyry.  But  when 
the  inheritance  fell,  at  the  death  of  the  son  of  Charles  Louis, 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  line  of  Neuburg,  the  Duke  had  the 
palace  grandly  repaired,  yet  he  wished  to  keep  the  cathedral 
wholly  for  the  use  of  his  own  religionists,  instead  of  being 
shared  amicably ;  the  nave  for  the  Protestants,  the  chancel 
for  the  Roman  Catholics,  as  allotted  at  the  peace  of  West- 
phalia in  1660.  A  rebellion  was  threatened,  on  which  the 
Elector  Palatine  transferred  his  residence  and  courts  of  jus- 
tice to  the  next  city,  Manheim.  From  that  time,  and  for 
that  cause,  Heidelberg  Castle  has  remained  deserted,  as  now 
seen  and  marvelled  at  by  every  curious  traveller. 

But  when  the  triumphal  chariot  of  the  English  bride  paused 
on  the  bridge  beneath  its  gates,  the  palace-castle  of  the 
Palatinate  was  in  its  very  glory,  the  pride  of  Germany  for 
science,  arts,  and  arms.  Immediately  before  the  ambulatory 
throne  rode  her  husband,  his  cousin  the  Regent,  John  of  Deux- 
ponts,  and  their  kinsmen  the  Margrave  of  iVnspach  and 
the  Duke  of  Wurtemberg.  The  little  army  of  the  Electorate 
preceded  the  car  in  their  national  uniform,  one  of  the  tri- 

1  Polnitz. 


70 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


colors  of  Germany,  of  white,  green,  and  red.  As  for  the 
discharge  of  the  cannon  from  the  walls  of  Heidelberg,  an- 
swered by  the  musketry  of  the  men-at-arms,  all  that  need 
be  said  is,  they  made  as  much  din  as  their  knowledge  of  the 
science  of  destruction  permitted.  And  great  was  the  satis- 
faction of  Elizabeth  and  her  English  followers  in  conse- 
quence. 

The  bridge  over  the  Neckar  had  been  made  a  very  her- 
ceau  of  flowery  arches,  under  which  the  procession  moved 
to  the  approaches  of  the  castle,  which  were  only  gained  by 
steep  ascents.  The  sports  in  honour  of  the  day  commenced 
with  a  water  tournament,  performed  by  the  fishermen  of 
the  Neckar,  who  aimed  with  poles  at  a  revolving  turret 
fixed  in  the  river,  as  their  boats  were  rowed  swiftly  past 
it,  a  pastime  Elizabeth  had  frequently  seen  on  her  own 
Thames.  She  paused  awhile  to  look  down  and  to  laugh 
at  the  various  immersions  of  the  unlucky  water-tilters,  and 
then  entered  the  lower  gate  of  the  castle  nearest  to  the 
river.  Here  an  artificial  angel  extended  its  wings  over 
the  Princess  as  she  entered.  She  pursued  her  way  through 
flowery  arches,  welcomed  and  harangued  in  turn  by  the 
professors  of  the  famous  university,  which  the  palace-castle 
sheltered  and  protected  amidst  the  circles  of  its  fortifica- 
tions, for  both  town  and  colleges  were  embraced  by  the 
walls.  The  citizens  lowered  a  golden  crown  on  the  canopy 
of  the  car ;  it  was  meant  for  her  brow  had  she  made  her 
entry,  as  was  hoped,  on  horseback.  Complimentary  in- 
scriptions in  Latin  met  her  eyes  at  every  turn ;  the  most 
appropriate  of  these  was  from  the  Psalms :  The  King^s 
daughter  is  all  glorious  within,  her  clothing  is  of  wrought 
gold ! 

Before  the  entrance  of  the  palace,  Frederic  had  placed 
a  pageant  representing  the  Danube  and  the  Thames,  with 
effigies  of  all  his  ancestors,  among  whom  the  English 
princesses  who  had  wedded  German  potentates — as  Matilda 
the  daughter  of  our  Henry  H.,  the  wife  of  Henry  the  Lion, 
and  Blanche,  daughter  of  Henry  IV.,  the  spouse  of  Louis 
of  Bavaria — -had  conspicuous  places.  Frederic  performed 
the  classic  ceremony  of  taking  his  bride  in  his  arms  and 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


71 


lifting  her  over  his  threshold.  The  female  relations  of 
the  husband  stood  in  a  double  rank  from  the  hall-door 
to  the  Silver  Chamber,  for  Castle  Heidelberg  had  then, 
as  well  as  the  Old  Palace  at  Berlin,  rooms  furnished  with 
solid  silver  ;  we  hope  they  were  brighter  and  better 
cleaned  than  the  costly  furniture  of  which  the  Margravine 
of  Baireuth  (Elizabeth's  clever  great-granddaughter)  gives 
so  dismal  a  description.  Twelve  German  princesses  stood 
according  to  their  proper  precedence  ready  to  receive 
Elizabeth,  among  whom  was  the  aged  mother,  the  two 
young  sisters  of  Frederic,  Charlotte  and  Catherine,  and 
the  young  wife  of  the  Regent  John.  Before  all  the  intro- 
ductions and  ceremonials  were  accomplished,  the  illustri- 
ous Juliana  of  Orange,  the  Electress-Dowager,  rushed  from 
her  place  of  dignity  at  the  door  of  the  Silver  Saloon,  and, 
clasping  EHzabeth  to  her  bosom,  expressed  the  delight  that 
the  day  had  arrived  when  she  could  welcome  her  as  her 
daughter  at  Heidelberg.^ 

Unfortunately  the  castle-palace  of  Heidelberg  was  too 
near  its  protegee,  the  University,  for  the  festivals  to  illus- 
trate the  natural  customs  of  the  country  ;  but  all  the  inter- 
ludes were  classical;  so  Venus,  Apollo,  Cupid,  Hymen,  and 
Diana,  held  forth  in  most  elaborate  tediousness,  which  we 
wholly  decline  inflicting  on  our  readers.  The  best  part  of 
Elizabeth's  diversions  was  the  sight  of  all  the  citizens,  all 
the  scholars,  and  all  the  soldiers,  dining  in  public  in  the 
meadows  of  the  Neckar.  The  great  tun  of  Heidelberg,  a 
German  marvel,  holding  an  incredible  number  of  bottles 
of  Rhenish  wine,  was  stationed  on  the  terrace  of  the 
castle;  and,  according  to  the  veracious  Stowe,  open  to 
all  the  population,  and  was  twice  drunk  dry  in  the  course 
of  the  wedding  festivities.^  The  next  day  thanksgiving 
sermons  of  enormous  length  were  preached  by  Abraham 
Scultetus,  Frederic's  Calvinist  tutor,  and  a  tournament  was 
proclaimed  for  the  next  day.  Elizabeth  sat  in  state  both 
days,  taking  precedence  at  the  head  of  the  banquet-table  of 

*  Stowe,  and  State-Paper  MSS. — Carlton's  Despatches. 

*  Everv  day  twenty  feeder  of  wine  was  drunk.  Each  foeder  contained 
1020  bottles. —Ludolph's  History  of  the  World. 


72 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


her  husband  and  of  eveiy  one,  as  If  she  had  been  the  reign- 
ing sovereign  at  Heidelberg.  Such  was  the  consequence 
of  her  husband's  promise  to  her  parents.  Even  then  it  began 
to  excite  unpleasant  comments  among  the  kindred  princes 
assembled  for  the  marriage  rejoicings.  Emperors'  daughters 
had  been  the  wives  of  the  Palatine  Electors,  and  even  the 
daughters  of  mighty  kings  of  England ;  but  none  had  ever 
before  been  seen  to  take  precedence  of  their  lords  and 
masters.  However,  brides  were  usually  much  indulged, 
so  the  innovation  passed  at  that  time  uncontested.  As 
for  the  Heidelberg  tournament,  nothing  remarkable  is 
recorded  concerning  it,  excepting  that,  to  the  great  scandal 
of  the  EngHsh  lords  and  cavaliers  there  assembled,  the 
prizes,  instead  of  being  armour  or  gems,  were  sums  of 
money,  as  at  the  English  races  of  Epsom  or  Ascot.  Very 
eager  the  German  princes  showed  themselves,  contending 
for  prizes  of  fifty  ducats  and  other  such  small  gains.  Fre- 
deric himself,  who  appeared  in  the  character  of  Jason  arriv- 
ing on  dry  land  in  the  Argo,  with  a  Golden  Fleece,  won  a 
prize  of  a  hundred  florins  from  the  Margrave  of  Anspach. 
Duke  Christian  of  Anhalt  carried  off  most  of  these  rather 
ignoble  rewards.  From  the  golden  mast  of  Jason's  ship 
was  proclaimed  an  oracle  by  some  viewless  speaker,  in 
imitation  of  the  style  of  Nostradamus,  to  this  effect : — 

"  W^hen  the  young  Lion,  descended  from  the  race  of  Lions,  shall  carry 
from  her  native  isle  the  Royal  Lamb  over  sea  to  his  own  sylvan  lair,  then 
shall  the  glory  of  the  new  Jason  eclipse  that  of  all  the  heroes  of  the 
earth."  ^ 

Jason  likewise  sung  a  very  pretty  naive  German  song  to 
his  princess  from  the  deck  of  his  Argo  ;  but  It  was  suddenly 
recollected  that  Jason  was  a  most  unlucky  hero  to  personify 
at  a  wedding  ;  which,  of  course,  in  superstitious  Germany, 
threw  a  damp  on  all  the  evolutions  of  the  young  Elector 
Palatine's  navigation  on  dry-land. 

The  marriage  festivities,  on  which  It  would  be  tedious 
further  to  dwell,  were.  In  the  succeeding  days,  Interspersed 
with  several  long  sermons  from  Frederic's  fanatic  theolo- 
gian, by  name  Abraham  ScuUhead,  which  name,  translated 

'  Ludolph's  History  of  the  World. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


73 


and  modified  with  the  classical  termination  usual  to  the 
learned  in  Germany,  is  known  in  history  as  Scultetus. 
Elizabeth  departed,  soon  after  this  course  of  entertain- 
ments commenced,  to  a  hunting-palace  belonging  to  her 
lord  not  far  from  Heidelberg,  where  she  astonished  her 
new  subjects,  by  shooting  twelve  deer  with  her  cross- 
bow. One  of  these  beautiful  creatures,  a  noble  stag  of  five 
years,  she  wounded  so  as  to  hamstring  it,  and  brought  it 
down  with  a  bolt  from  this  cruel  weapon.  The  Rhenish 
Germans  mentioned  these  exploits  as  favourably  as  they 
could,  and  lauded  the  fair  young  Amazon  as  the  Diana 
of  the  Rhine." 

The  three  English  nobles,  the  Duke  of  Lennox,  Lord 
Arundel,  and  Lord  Lisle,  who  had,  under  the  commission  of 
her  royal  father,  accompanied  the  bride  for  the  purpose  of 
seeing  her  put  in  possession  of  her  dower-estates,  and  paying 
her  expenses,  now  took  leave  of  her.  Lord  Harrington,  her 
preceptor,  remained  a  while  longer,  and  received  great 
vexation  from  some  of  the  turbulent  and  incongruous 
persons  who  composed  the  new  household  of  his  Princess. 
When  the  happy  and  well-ordered  arrangements  of  Eliza- 
beth's early  paradise  at  Combe  Abbey  are  remembered,  it 
may  easily  be  supposed  what  a  contrast  was  a  scene  like  this, 
which  took  place  on  a  journey  to  Manhelm,  whither  Eliza- 
beth was  accompanied  by  Lord  and  Lady  Harrington, 
Colonel  Count  Schomberg,  and  Sir  Andrew  Keith,  her 
Master  of  Horse.  On  the  road  a  dispute,  concerning  the 
performance  of  some  of  the  horses,  occurred  between  Sir 
Andrew  Keith  and  Mr  Bushell,  the  squire  of  Lord  Har- 
rington. In  his  passion  Sir  Andrew  came  up  to  the  coach 
wherein  the  Princess  was  with  Lady  Harrington,  and,  in 
the  presence  of  all  her  suite,  accused  Lord  Harrington  of 
wronging  her  Royal  Highness  in  the  exchange  of  some 
horses.  Lady  Harrington  fired  up  in  defence  of  her  lord, 
but  Keith  contradicted  her  without  ceremony.  Lord  Har- 
rington replied  sharply ;  as  for  Bushell  himself,  he  defied 
the  uncourteous  Master  of  Horse  to  instant  and  mortal 
combat ;  so,  rushing  to  a  convenient  spot  at  a  little  distance, 
the  Englishman  and  the  Scot  drew  their  swords,  eager  for  a 


74 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


hot  encounter,  under  the  very  eyes  of  the  young  Princess, 
who  screamed  to  Colonel  Schomberg  to  part  them.  For 
the  present  he  succeeded  in  preventing  the  combat ;  but 
nothing  was  gained  by  the  delay,  for  Sir  Andrew  Keith 
having  partisans  among  his  countrymen  in  her  Royal 
Highnesses  service,  and  Bushell  bringing  up  his  friends  on 
Lord  Harrington's  side,  a  general  engagement  took  place, 
when  Bushell  was  left  for  dead  with  fourteen  wounds,  and 
several  of  the  combatants  were  seriously  hurt.  Elizabeth 
complained  to  her  husband  of  the  ferocity  of  her  Master  of 
Horse,  and  the  Elector  ordered  Schomberg  to  arrest  him, 
and  his  aiders  and  abettors. 

Thus  Sir  Andrew  Keith,  though  he  remained  victor  in 
the  fray,  which  is  evident  from  the  list  of  the  killed  and 
wounded,  was  not  altogether  triumphant.^  Not  long  after 
this  outrage.  Lord  and  Lady  Harrington  bade  farewell  to 
their  Princess,  and  commenced  their  journey  to  England. 
Lord  Harrington  had  suffered  far  more  serious  uneasiness 
than  what  arose  from  the  appeal  to  arms  of  these  fiery 
young  men,  for  his  honour  was  concerned  in  the  charge  of 
pecuniary  wrong  blurted  out  by  Sir  Andrew  Keith ;  and 
there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  his  mind  was  much  wounded 
by  the  whole  affair.  Lord  Harrington,  it  is  said,  had  been 
left  by  King  James  in  arrear  for  the  cost  of  the  education 
of  the  Princess,  money  being  very  short  at  the  Court  of 
England  after  the  funeral  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the 
marriage  of  the  Princess-Royal.  So  the  King  gave  him, 
by  way  of  compensation,  the  profits  of  a  coinage  of  brass 
farthings.  It  is  declared  by  political  historians,  that  these 
farthings  broke  his  heart,  but  it  was  more  probably  the  un- 
toward affair  of  the  fracas  among  the  officers  of  the  Princess 
that  grieved  him  mortally,  for  he  fell  ill  at  the  city  of  Worms, 
not  long  after  he  parted  from  Elizabeth,  and  there  expired.^ 

'  Harleian  Collection,  and  State-Paper  MSS.    August  1613. 

2  Letters  of  Sir  Dudley  Carlton  to  Mr  Chamberlain.  His  only  son  did 
not  survive  him  many  months  ;  his  daughter  Lucy,  Countess  of  Bedford, 
became  the  heiress  of  the  great  wealth  in  church  lands  that  centred  in 
Lord  and  Lady  Harrington.  Lady  Bedford  was  with  the  Princess  at  Combe 
Abbey.  She  was  undeniably  an  accomplished  and  learned  woman,  but  not 
a  little  ftxntastic  in  taste.  As  for  her  extravagance,  it  was  considered  ex- 
traordinary in  a  most  extravagant  era. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


75 


The  furious  outbreak  that  had  taken  place  between  Sir 
Andrew  Keith  and  the  followers  of  Lord  Harrington,  proved 
but  the  commencement  of  a  long  series  of  disorders  aris- 
ing from  the  turbulent  conduct  of  Elizabeth's  household. 
There  was  a  little  army  of  adventurers  to  the  amount 
of  thrice  as  many,  who  had  quartered  themselves  on  the 
hapless  citizens  of  Heidelberg,  and  daily  petitioned  Eli- 
zabeth to  be  inducted  into  places  at  her  court,  or  demanded 
to  have  some  created  on  purpose  for  them.  Daily  they 
quarrelled  with  each  other  ;  riots  in  the  city  were  of  frequent 
occurrence ;  and  when  inquiries  were  made  as  to  who  w^ere 
the  disturbers  of  the  public  peace,  the  English  of  Madame 
la  Princesse  were  always  declared  to  be  the  delinquents. 
Besides  their  turbulence,  these  supernumeraries  were  un- 
bearable in  another  respect;  they  boldly  presented  themselves 
at  table  when  the  household  of  the  Princess  were  served, 
and  devoured  what  was  provided  for  the  regular  officials. 
When  Schomberg  laboured  to  reduce  all  to  proper  order,  he 
found  an  opponent  start  up  in  Mr  Elphinstone,  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Princess,  who  seems  to  have  been  the  leader  of 
the  Scottish  faction  of  the  regular  household.  The  com- 
plaints of  Schomberg  in  his  letters  to  King  James  and  his 
ministers,  are  truly  comic  concerning  his  perplexities, 
although  that  faithful  functionary  never  considered  the 
matter  with  the  least  tendency  to  mirthfulness.  In  the  inter- 
vals of  his  negotiations  with  the  troublesome  followers  of  the 
Princess,  Schomberg  was  called  on  to  arrange  the  knotty 
points  concerning  the  question  of  her  precedence  as  a  King's 
daughter  over  her  husband  and  all  his  connections.  Ger- 
man notions  touching  etiquette  of  the  kind  yielding  only  to 
those  of  the  Chinese,  the  unfortunate  minister  of  Frederic 
surely  had  enough  on  his  hands.  So  he  thought,  and  thus 
wrote  of  his  afflictions  to  James  I. :  Your  Majesty  must 
consider  that  I  have  a  young  Prince  and  Princess,  an  adminis- 
trator, the  Regent  John,  a  mother-in-law,  sisters,  aunts,  and 
every  one  of  these  has  their  trains.  Everybody  wishes  to 
govern.  Everybody  believes  I  do  more  for  one  than  the 
other  ; and  he  adds,  "  Am  I  not  a  miserable  man?''  ^ 
1  State-Paper  MSS. 


76 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Such  a  state  of  affairs.  It  may  very  well  be  anticipated, 
could  not  continue  very  long.  The  Electress-Dowager 
Juliana  resolved  to  retire  with  her  daughters,  Catherine 
and  Charlotte,  to  her  dower -castle  of  Kaiserslautern, 
a  curious  old  castle,  built  by  the  Emperor  Frederic  Barba- 
rossa,  but  previously  withdrew  to  her  seat  of  Neuburg. 
Here  she  gave  a  family  festival  in  honour  of  the  bride, 
where  the  Regent  John  assumed  the  office  of  maUre-d' hotel 
on  this  occasion.-^  The  old  Electress  brought  out  to  do 
honour  to  it  two  ancient  welcome-cups,  one  in  the  form  of  a 
monk,  and  the  other  in  that  of  a  nun.  The  company  drank 
the  health  of  the  Princess  in  the  latter,  and  that  of  the  Elector 
in  the  other.  Then  Elizabeth,  after  dinner,  wandered  all 
over  the  domain,  visited  the  mills,  the  fountains,  and  the 
dairy,  which  the  old  Electress  had  arranged  with  Dutch  pre- 
cision and  attention  to  cleanliness,  the  very  cowhouse,  with 
the  beautiful  sleek  animals  therein,  being  shining  and  pol- 
ished like  a  parlour.  EHzabeth  delighted  in  giving  the 
gentle  cows  grass  to  eat  with  her  own  royal  hand,  a 
circumstance  which  shows,  that  even  then  the  creatures 
were  fed  on  the  stalled  system,  as  neat  cattle  are  on  the  Con- 
tinent at  this  day.  There  was  a  table  in  the  dairy  set  out 
with  nice  little  dainties  prepared  from  milk  and  cream,  at 
which  the  Princess  and  her  ladies  feasted.  Anne  Dudley, 
with  the  other  young  ladies  who  served  the  Princess,  were 
heard  to  laugh  quite  joyously  ;  mistress  and  maids  all  gave 
tokens  of  great  pleasure  throughout  this  happy  country  day. 

Insight  into  the  domestic  life  and  manners  of  Elizabeth 
Stuart  as  the  Electress  Palatine  is  to  be  derived  from  the 
despatches  of  that  man  of  many  tribulations,  Schomberg, 
to  King  James  and  his  cabinet,  while  he  was  arranging  the 
unruly  household  of  his  Princess.  Unfortunately  the  cus- 
toms of  German  palatial  economy  did  not  harmonise  with 
those  of  the  English.  It  was  usual  at  Heidelberg  Castle  to 
allow  neither  lodging  nor  board  to  those  officials  of  the  Court 
who  received  pensions ;  therefore  Elphinstone  and  all  the 
individuals  of  Elizabeth's  paid  household,  were  expected  to 
board  themselves — proceedings  very  opposite  to  the  hospitable 
1  French  Ambassades,  September  3,  1613. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


77 


louche  of  court  and  the  bounteous  tables  of  green  cloth  at 
Hampton  Court  and  Whitehall,  now,  alas,  with  otlier  old 
English  hospitalities,  defunct !  Another  grievance  was, 
that  when  the  young  Electress  Palatine  sat  down  in  public 
with  twelve  princes  and  princesses  of  her  husband's  kindred 
to  dine  with  her,  the  English  officials  positively  refused  to 
hand  cup  or  viand  to  their  serene  highnesses. 

On  very  grand  occasions  Frederic  and  Elizabeth  were 
waited  on  by  the  nobles  of  the  country ;  but  when  this 
species  of  feudal  service  was  offered  by  ladies  of  the  lines 
of  Nassau,  Solms,  or  Harrach,  to  the  illustrious  consort 
of  their  suzerain  and  cousin,  again  the  English  train  were 
up  in  arms.  They  would  serve  no  one  but  their  lawful 
lady,  and  their  lawful  lady  should  be  served  by  none  but 
them.  "  Such  are  the  little  dissensions  which  are  hardly 
worth  troubling  your  Majesty  about,"  writes  Schomberg  to 
James  I.  As  to  my  lady's  meat,  she  always  has  it  prepared 
by  her  own  cook,  being  served  up  at  table  at  every  meal. 
I  ask  her  always  what  she  wishes  for,  and  she  tells  me 
freely.  There  is  now  no  table  but  hers,  where  there  are 
only  princes  and  princesses.''  ^ 

Elizabeth  became  the  happy  mother  of  a  healthy  son, 
born  at  Heidelberg,  January  2,  1613-14,  neither  of  its 
parents  having  seen  their  eighteenth  year.  The  child 
was  named  after  Elizabeth's  deceased  brother,  Henry  Fre- 
deric, but  the  actual  baptism  did  not  take  place  until 
several  weeks  afterwards.  The  presents  and  prepara- 
tions, and  the  numbers  of  godfathers  and  godmothers  usual 
at  a  German  baptism,  could  not  all  be  in  readiness  be- 
fore 6th  March.  Immediate  heirs  to  the  Crown  of  Great 
Britain  had  become  so  few,  being  limited  to  Charles,  Prince 
of  Wales,  and  Elizabeth  herself,  that  the  news  of  the  birth 
of  this  infant  was  received  in  England  with  much  satisfac- 
tion. The  boy  was  immediately  granted  the  privileges  of 
naturalisation  by  the  English  Parliament,  and  was  declared 
heir  and  successor  to  the  mother,  in  her  reversionary  rights 
to  the  throne,  a  recognition  which  was  extended  to  all 
Elizabeth's  future  offspring.  Those  who  remember  the 
^  State-Paper  MS.— Schomberg  to  James  I.,  October  3,  1613. 


78 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


artful  exclusion  of  James  V.,  on  pretence  of  being  an  alien, 
by  Henry  VIIL,  will  see  the  great  importance  of  this  mea- 
sure to  the  Palatine  family. 

The  journals  of  the  houses  of  Parliament,  at  that  date, 
will,  without  a  moment's  argument,  overthrow  all  the 
vituperations  of  political  history  regarding  the  cruel  neglect 
of  Elizabeth.^  James  I.  now  increased  his  daughter's  allow- 
ance d£^2000  per  annum,  the  patent  for  which  was  placed 
in  a  golden  siphon  and  basin,  sent  as  a  grandsire's  and 
godsire's  gifts.  Never  was  an  English  prince  more  bounti- 
fully endowed  at  his  baptism  than  the  babe  of  Elizabeth. 
Prince  Maurice  gave  him  a  crystal  ship  worth  £900 ;  the 
States-General  of  Holland,  who  were  reckoned  among  the 
boy's  sponsors,  two  gold  cups ;  and,  with  a  provident  care, 
which  seems  almost  like  foresight  in  regard  to  the  future 
necessities  of  Elizabeth's  children,  endowed  their  little 
neophyte  with  the  magnificent  grant  of  a  pension  of  £400 
per  annum.  The  Duke  of  Deuxponts,  the  late  Eegent, 
gave  a  rich  silver  basin  and  ewer;  and  the  grandmother,  the 
Electress  Juliana,  a  curious  nest  of  twenty-four  silver  cups, 
fitting  one  within  the  other.  The  younger  maiden  aunt, 
Catherine,  Princess  Palatine,  carried  the  babe  to  the  chapel, 
where  the  Prince  of  Anhalt,  as  proxy  for  the  monarch  of 
Great  Britain,  presented  him  at  the  font.  A  princely  crowd 
of  godfathers  and  godmothers  was  there,  each  of  whom, 
according  to  the  national  custom,  received  him  by  turns 
in  their  arms. 

The  year  that  followed  this  happy  event  was  naturally 
a  joyous  one  ;  to  Elizabeth,  as  a  wife,  her  felicity  was 
unclouded.  Fortunately  she  loved  her  husband  sincerely. 
His  plain  person  and  saturnine  temperament,  which  his  most 
intimate  friends  did  not  scruple  to  call  deep  melancholy, 
impaired  not  her  conjugal  affection.  The  marriage  of  her 
sister-in-law,  Charlotte,  Princess  Palatine  (for  all  daughters 
of  the  electoral  family  of  the  Rhine  claimed  that  appella- 
tion), took  place  in  1614,  with  George  William,  Elector  of 

1  Likewise  Drake's  Parliamentary  History.  Miss  Benger,  who  views  the 
whole  history  of  EUzabeth  by  the  false  light  of  Winwood  and  Wilson, 
was  utterly  unconscious  of  these  facts. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


79 


Brandenburg.  Great  discontent  was  manifested  by  the 
Electress  Juliana  at  the  precedence  her  daughter-in-law 
continued  to  take  and  claim  on  all  occasions ;  and  if  Schom- 
berg's  evidence  is  to  be  credited,  the  old  Electress  manifested 
malignity  against  Elizabeth  little  consistent  with  the  saintly 
character^  given  her  by  her  co-religionists,  and  her  biogra- 
pher Spanheim.  As  for  Schomberg,  his  miseries  approached 
their  climax,  his  love  affairs  being  in  a  most  unprosperous 
state  with  the  friend  and  confidant  of  the  Princess,  Mistress 
Anne  Dudley.  Fair  Mistress  Anne,  although  she  had 
been  long  courted,  was  very  coy.  Her  friends  did  not  deem 
the  match  good  enough.  Young  Lord  Harrington,  and  her 
aunt,  his  mother,  wished  to  recall  her  to  England,  to  which 
her  illustrious  mistress  and  the  hapless  Schomberg  were 
naturally  averse.  The  inamorato  at  last  withdrew  himselt 
from  the  Court  of  Heidelberg,  to  the  infinite  detriment  of  the 
aff'airs  of  Elizabeth.  To  soothe  the  pangs  of  unrequited 
love,  Schomberg  plunged  into  Dutch  garrison  service,  under 
the  command  of  Prince  Maurice.  Elizabeth  then  rushed 
inextricably  into  debt.  A  few  weeks  previously,  Schom- 
berg had  left  his  post  only  for  a  fortnight,  and  went  to 
Frankfort  fair,  for  the  purpose  of  expending  money  for 
her  thriftily,  according  to  the  German  custom  of  laying  in 
stores  at  these  great  marts,  buying  every  kind  of  goods, 
from  broadcloth  to  papers  of  pins.  While  absent  on  this 
good  errand,  peculators  had  involved  the  Princess  in  gifts 
and  promises  to  a  ruinous  amount.  King  James,  finding 
the  really  noble  pension  he  allowed  his  daughter  swallowed 
thus  uselessly,  demanded  what  had  become  of  Schomberg, 
to  whom  he  gave  an  annuity  for  taking  care  of  her  interests. 

The  consort  of  Elizabeth  attained  his  majority  of  eighteen 
in  August  1614,  and  forthwith  took  on  his  own  shoulder 
the  weight  of  government  resigned  by  his  cousin.  Regent 
John  of  Deuxponts.  Frederic  and  Elizabeth  made  a  tour 
through  their  dominions,  hunting  as  they  went  with  the 
pertinacity  of  North  American  savages.  Elizabeth  that 
jummer  had  nearly  caused  the  deaths  of  her  husband,  and 
*f  a  relative  of  his,  the  Landgravine  of  Hesse-Cassel :  while 
1  Benger  is  most  sentimental  on  her  love  for  Elizabeth. 


80 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


following  on  her  daring  chases,  Frederic  was  thrown  from 
his  horse,  and  nearly  broke  his  neck,  while  the  Landgravine 
fractured  her  arm.^ 

Congresses  of  the  German  Calvinists  now  drew  the  Elector 
Palatine  into  their  vortex,  and  to  his  consternation  began  to 
discuss  the  plans  of  placing  him  at  their  head  in  the  tremen- 
dous war  preparing  against  the  Empire.  Frederic,  soon  after 
this  revelation,  was  seized  with  a  terrible  nervous  fever, 
which  struck  him  even  while  sitting  in  the  diet  at  Heilbrun, 
when  this  fearful  destiny  was  announced  to  him.  He  must 
have  known  that  he  was  neither  fit  in  mind  or  bodv  for  a 
part  so  onerous.  At  the  same  time,  he  knew  the  ambition 
of  his  young  partner  to  bear  the  rank  and  title  of  a  Queen. 
\  The  religious  liberty  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany 
was  no  motive  with  Elizabeth,  as  she  never  communicated 
with  it,  being  under  promise,  she  pleaded,  to  her  father 
that  she  never  would,  although  she  began  to  consider  the 
political  expediency  of  so  doing  at  this  juncture.  On 
the  other  side,  the  heart  of  Frederic  yearned  after  his 
mother's  peaceful  advice.  The  Electress  Juliana  was  of 
a  very  different  spirit  from  her  brother  Prince  Maurice, 
who,  professing  small  belief  in  any  religion  but  that  of 
the  sword  missionary,  was  to  be  the  military  champion 
of  the  Calvinist  League.  The  old  Electress,  on  the  con- 
trary, was  of  that  best  bias  of  puritanism  which  endea- 
voured to  practise  the  good  simple  life  of  the  primitive 
Christian.^  Thankful  for  the  spiritual  liberty  gained  by  her 
father,  the  illustrious  William  of  Orange,  the  Liberator,  she 
seemed  strongly  averse  to  any  warlike  demonstration  w^hile 
that  liberty  could  be  enjoyed.  Of  course  she  impeded  the 
personal  aggrandisement  on  which  her  girlish  daughter-in- 
law  was  so  strongly  bent.  The  struggle  in  the  mind  of 
Frederic  was  too  much  for  his  health  and  strength.  The  ill- 
ness which  had  stricken  him  when  presiding  in  the  diet  of  his 
confederate  princes  redoubled  its  attack,  and  delirium  ensued. 
After  a  sharp  crisis  he  recovered,  and  returned  to  Elizabeth 
at  Heidelberg,  it  is  true,  yet  only  as  a  blighted  and  melan- 

*  Harleian  MS.,  Brit.  Mus.  ^  Spanheim's  Life  of  Juliana. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


81 


choly  invalid.  He  had  not  amended  when  his  wife  wrote 
the  following  letter  : — 

Elizabeth,  Electress  Palatine,  to  Secretary  Winwood.  ^ 
"  Sir, — The  Elector  sending  this  bearer  to  his  Majesty,  I  was  desirous 
to  let  you  understand  something  of  his  state,  and  of  this  place.  Himself, 
at  the  last  assembly,  got  an  ague,  which,  though  it  hath  held  him  not  long, 
yet  it  hath  made  him  weak,  and  look  very  ill.  Since  his  fits  left  him,  he 
is  very  heavy,  and  extremely  melancholy,  as  I  never  saw  in  my  life  such 
an  alteration  in  any.  I  cannot  tell  what  to  say  to  it,  but  I  think  he  hath 
so  much  business  at  this  time  as  troubles  his  mind  too  much.  If  I  may 
say  the  truth,  I  think  there  is  some  that  doth  trouble  him  too  much;  for 
I  find  they  desire  he  should  bring  me  to  be  all  Dutch,  and  to  their  fashions, 
which  I  neither  have  been  bred  to,  nor  is  it  necessary  in  every  thing  I 
should  follow,  neither  will  I  do  it,  for  I  find  there  is  what  would  set  me  in 
a  lower  rank  than  them  that  have  gone  before  me,  which  I  think  they  do  the 
Prince  wrong  in  putting  in  his  head  at  this  time  when  he  is  so  melancholy." 

Elizabeth  here  complains  of  her  mother-in-law,  and  her 
party,  Juliana  being  now  declaredly  of  the  adverse  or  peace 
faction,  and  the  heart  of  the  affectionate  Frederic  was  torn 
in  the  struggle  between  the  wife  and  mother.  In  the  con- 
clusion of  her  letter,  she  entreats  Winwood  to  induce  the 
return  of  Schomberg,  as  the  only  person  capable  of  drawing 
her  husband  from  his  morbid  state.  As  to  her  aversion  to  be- 
coming "all  Dutch/'  that  expression  must  not  be  taken  liter- 
ally. It  merely  means  the  entire  adoption  of  German  habits. 

When  Schomberg  was  called  for,  he  refused  to  come ; 
but  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  being  fortunately  at  the  Hague, 
used  his  utmost  skill  in  the  art  of  pleasant  persuasion 
to  entice  him  back  to  the  Court  where  he  had  been 
treated  with  capricious  coquetry  on  one  side,  and  un- 
thankful folly  on  the  other.  But  the  young  Electress 
promised  and  vowed  that  she  would  be  entirely  guided  by 
his  advice  in  money  matters ;  hinted  that  she  would  afford 
him  her  interest  in  his  untoward  love  affairs ;  and  perhaps 
sent  him  a  little  encouragement  from  the  perverse  fair  one, 
Mistress  Anne.  So  the  brave  German  count  was  at  last 
induced  to  leave  the  side  of  Prince  Maurice,  and  return 
to  his  former  station,  without  which  the  dejected  Elector 
Palatine  could  never  be  brought  up  to  martial  intents,  as 

^  State-Paper  Office  MS. 
VOL.  VIII.  F 


82 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Prince  Maurice  very  well  knew.  Before  Schomberg  went 
to  Heidelberg  he  opened  his  mind  to  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  ex- 
plaining to  him  "  the  difficulties  he  encountered  in  managing 
between  the  reserve  of  the  Elector's  character,  the  ill-humour 
of  the  Electress  Juliana,  and  the  baseness  of  the  ecclesiastical 
influence,"^  probably  pointing  at  the  gloomy  and  superstitious 
fanatics  Scultetus  and  Horneck,  whose  absurdities  regard- 
ing fortune-telling,  witches,  and  astrology,  surpassed  any- 
thing recorded  of  the  superstitious  seventeenth  century. 

All  was  in  confusion  when  Schomberg  returned.  The 
Elector  would  not  see,  speak  to,  or  receive  any  person, 
whatsoever  might  be  their  rank;'^  indeed,  the  symptoms 
described  by  Schomberg  tended  strongly  to  mental  disease. 
The  old  Electress  was  on  bad  terms  with  the  young  Elec- 
tress, on  account  of  the  absurd  precedence  she  claimed  as  a 
king's  daughter;  but  perhaps  it  was  still  more  absurd  for 
the  ascetic  J uliana  to  resent  it  as  she  did.  Yet  the  cause  of 
contention  went  deeper  than  even  Schomberg  knew,  being 
the  great  point,  whether  Frederic  should,  young  and  feeble 
as  he  was,  plunge  into  an  ambitious  war,  in  order  to  give 
Elizabeth  the  title  of  Queen  or  Empress.  The  household 
of  EHzabeth  was  misgoverned ;  she  gave  to  every  one  that 
solicited  her,  patronised  every  complainant,  right  or  wrong ; 

the  very  stable-boys  run  after  her  Highness,"  says  Schom- 
berg, "  to  importune  her,  and  make  her  believe  they  are  ill- 
treated  ;  nor  could  any  explanation  prevent  her  from  taking 
their  parts/'  The  dismissal  of  Elizabeth's  Secretary,  Elphin- 
stone,  and  the  resignation  of  her  Master  of  the  Household, 
went  far  to  rectify  existing  abuses.  Schomberg  then  drew 
out  regulations,  to  which  Elizabeth  set  her  hand,  and  he 
was  at  once  installed  as  Comptroller. 

Notwithstanding  Elizabeth's  most  earnest  endeavours, 
the  family  of  Anne  Dudley  still  opposed  the  union  of  their 
kinswoman  with  Schomberg.  However,  in  the  commence- 
ment of  the  year  1614-15,  King  James  inquired  of  his 
daughter  whether  it  was  the  custom  among  the  German 
princes  for  the  first  lady  attendant  to  be  a  married  wo- 

1  State-Paper  MSS.— Wotton  to  Winwood,  Nov.  18,  1614. 

2  Ibid.,  Schomberg  to  Wotton,  Dec.  1,  1614. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


83 


man  ;  to  which  Elizabeth  replied,  in  rather  broken  Eng- 
lish "  Touching  my  dame  d'honneur,  I  can  assure  this 
truth,  which  I  beseech  your  Majesty  to  believe,  that  she 
hath  ever  been  careful  for  my  good,  and  hath  most  faith- 
fully served  me,  without  ever  having  taken  present  of  me, 
since  I  came  into  Germany,  and  I  shall  even  be  ungrateful 
when  I  do  not  witness  this  same ;  and  since  your  Majesty 
desires  to  know  if  it  be  the  custom  [here]  that  the  dame 
d'honneur  should  be  married,  to  this  I  can  tell  your  Majesty, 
Yes;  that  it  is  the  fashion,  and  that  the  Elector,  his  coun- 
cil, and  all  here,  have  often  desired  me  to  forward  their 
marriage — your  Majesty  yourself  having  written  me  word 
that  you  wished  it,  and  should  like  she  were  married  to 
Schomberg/'^  .Ehzabeth  added  some  commendations  of 
him,  which  removed  from  her  father's  mind  the  absurd 
gossip  sedulously  spread  by  the  discharged  officers  on  their 
return  to  England,  that  Schomberg  only  permitted  the 
Princess  to  buy  five  robes  in  a  year,  and  all  on  account  of 
sparing  the  purse  of  his  master,  her  husband.  James,  who 
had  heard  that  one  of  his  daughter's  ladies,  lately  dismissed 
from  Heidelberg,  had  been  seen  in  the  possession  of  ruby 
studs  which  had  belonged  to  the  Crown,  sent  his  pursui- 
vants to  hand  the  rubies  before  his  Privy  Council,  and 
Mrs,  or,  in  present  parlance,  Miss  Tyrwhitt,  to  account  for 
them ;  on  hearing  of  which  tragical  circumstance,  Eliza- 
beth found  it  needful  to  come  to  confession  concerning  a 
little  transaction  between  herself  and  the  Queen  her  mother, 
of  which  the  gossip-loving  monarch  had  been  kept  in  igno- 
rance. Until  this  was  done,  James  had  every  reason  to 
suppose  the  rubies  had  been  stolen  from  his  Queen  by  Mrs 
Tyrwhitt.  Elizabeth  explains,^  that  when  she  was  at  York 
with  the  Queen  (and  this  must  have  been  at  her  first  en- 
trance from  Scotland),  the  King  sent  her  a  present  of  a  fair 
pearl  chain,  which  the  Queen  her  mother  desiring,  exchanged 
these  unlucky  ruby  studs  for  it.  She  added,  that  Mrs  Tyr- 
whitt had  served  her  long,  and  received  nothing — that  is, 
nothing  by  way  of  benefaction,  for  which  the  servitors  of 
royalty  were  in  that  age  as  greedy  as  Arabs  for  bachshish. 
1  State-Paper  MS.  ^  Ibid.,  Jan.  1614-15. 


84 


ELIZABETH  STUAKT. 


She  finished  her  memorial  of  the  transaction  by  giving  Mrs 
Tyrwhitt  an  order  for  £300  on  arrears  of  her  own  pension  In 
England,  and  requesting  her  honoured  sire  to  keep  the  rubles ; 
declaring  withal,  there  never  were  more  than  twenty-two  of 
them.  James  murmured  much  at  the  whole  affair,  and  sent 
an  agent  to  Heidelberg  to  make  Inquisition  as  to  what  had 
become  of  his  daughter's  jewels,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
contrived  to  affront  Schomberg  ;  for  the  King  asked  his 
daughter  who  had  the  care  of  her  jewels,  and  whether  It 
was  not  Anne  Dudley?''  This  the  Princess  declared  was 
not  her  office.^  At  last  James,  being  satisfied^  removed  all 
family  interdicts  to  the  union  of  the  faithful  friends  of  his 
daughter.  Schomberg  and  Anne  Dudley  were  wedded,  to 
the  great  joy  of  Elizabeth,  in  March  1615.  She  composed  a 
ballet  to  celebrate  their  nuptials, 2  and  danced  at  It  herself, 
according  to  the  custom  of  that  and  the  preceding  century. 

The  return  of  Schomberg  to  his  former  influence  at  his 
master's  court  was  most  propitious  to  the  wedded  happiness 
of  the  young  Electress.  Relieved  from  the  heavy  cares 
which  had  overwhelmed  him,  her  husband  partially  recov- 
ered his  health  and  spirits,  and  then  the  bonds  of  affection 
became  pleasantly  reunited,  and  their  conjugal  friendship 
too  strongly  cemented  for  this  world's  direst  storms  ever  to 
overthrow. 

Perhaps  the  happiest  portion  of  Elizabeth's  life  was  the 
period  of  the  formation  of  an  English  garden,  which  her 
fine  taste  had  devised  among  the  broken  cliffs  of  Heidel- 
berg. Her  lord's  desire  to  please  her  caused  him  to  Incur 
the  expense.  Leading  to  it  was  a  triumphal  arch,  built  In 
one  night,  as  a  surprise  to  his  wife.^  Forming  the  entry 
of  the  new  garden  he  had  Inscribed  thus  : — 

FREDERICUS  V. 

ELIZABETH 
CONJUGI  CARISS. 
A.C.xM.D.C.X.V.F.C. 


^  State-Paper  MSS.  ^  ibid.-— Letter  to  Winwood,  March  30,  1615. 

Description  of  the  English  Garden  of  Heidelberg  Castle,  by  Solomon 
Caves,  the  designer  of  it. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


85 


An  old  ruinous  turret,  coeval  with  an  older  castle  of  Heidel- 
berg, had  been  the  habitation  of  a  prophetess  called  Jetha 
Bethel,  "  who  told  fortunes  in  a  holy  manner/'  and  was  so 
much  venerated  by  the  people  that  it  was  suffered  to  re- 
main in  memory  of  their  sybil.  Both  Frederic  and  Eliza- 
beth had  sufficient  love  of  the  picturesque  to  make  this 
tower  a  point  of  sight.  Besides  the  plantations  of  English 
orchards,  evergreens,  flowers,  and  shrubs,  water  was  col- 
lected in  basins  and  fountains  ;  the  lovely  Neckar  below  was 
shown  in  many  a  varied  view  through  the  trees.  Gravel- 
walks  were  achieved,  too,  and  those  who  are  famiUar  with 
Continental  gardening  know  the  want  of  these  useful  acces- 
sories. Combe  Abbey  grounds  had  been  the  model,  but 
diversified  in  bolder  style  on  the  romantic  locality  of  Heidel- 
berg. Elizabeth's  English  garden  is  still  shown  among  the 
beauties  of  this  grandest  of  palatial  ruins. 

Schomberg  now  having  set  his  mistress's  household  in 
order,  composed  these  wholesome  rules,  which  the  Princess 
promised  to  observe  : — 

"  Your  Highness  should  ever  seek  to  please  God  and  the  Prince,  and 
reprove  those  who  try  to  sow  dissensions  between  you.  Never  grant  any- 
thing on  the  first  request,  but  answer,  I  w^ill  consider — I  will  think  of  it — 
I  will  see  ;  then,  if  you  find  it  reasonable,  grant  it  of  your  own  accord,  as 
from  an  heroic  liberality.  Have  a  wardrobe  in  which  to  put  all  your  old 
dresses,  and  every  year  examine  them  ;  those  you  will  not  wear  again  give 
them  as  you  please,  but  have  a  list  kept  of  all,  with  the  names  of  those  to 
whom  you  give  ;  the  same  with  tapestry  and  furniture.  Let  the  same  be 
done  with  your  linen.  You  brought  two  thousand  pounds'  worth  from 
England,  and  have  bought  one  thousand  pounds'  worth  here  ;  yet  Mistress 
Dean  complains  you  are  ill  provided,  which  makes  one  think  there  is  some 
abuse  somewhere.  Have  all  the  plate,  gold,  and  silver  weighed  afresh  and 
enrolled  ;  the  same  with  your  jewels,  and  all  little  boxes  and  pretty  baga- 
telles, and  let  all  be  deposited  in  presses  and  cabinets  in  your  closet,  with 
inventories,  one  of  which  you  should  keep.  Those  jewels  you  wear  daily 
to  be  intrusted  to  Mademoiselle  Apsley.  The  jewels  should  be  carefully 
inspected  every  six  months.  You  know  what  fault  my  wife  and  I  have 
often  found  on  this  point."  1 

This  sensible  though  quaint  memorial,  it  is  thus  evident,  was 
compounded  after  he  had  married  Anne,  whose  authority, 
as  dame  d'honneur,  he  is  exceedingly  firm  in  maintaining 


1  State-Paper  MSS. 


86 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


throiighout  a  pendant  paper,  which  was  intended  to  impress 
on  the  mind  of  the  Princess  the  urgency  of  reducing  to 
obedience  her  men  and  maids.  Schomberg  is  no  flatterer, 
or  he  would  not  have  placed  under  her  ken  some  of  his 
sentences,  which  show  at  a  glance  the  lawless  state  of  her 
people.  But  she  was  only  a  girl  in  years,  whose  love  of 
approbation  had  really  been  unduly  cultivated  in  the  happy 
Eden  of  her  childhood.  Out  of  the  retreat  of  Combe  Ab- 
bey, she  issued  with  capabilities  more  fitting  to  pet  parrots, 
dance  with  dogs,  play  with  monkeys,  and  kiss  kittens,  than 
to  govern  the  rabble  rout  that  followed  her  to  Germany. 
Schomberg,  in  his  advice  regarding  the  government  of  her 
servants,  says : — 

"  Generally  they  must  receive  orders  from  the  Marshal  of  the  Court, 
the  maids  must  obey  the  dame  d'honneur,  the  men  the  mait7^e-cV hotel, 
according  to  the  order  approved  by  the  King  [James]  when  I  returned 
from  England.  Your  Highness  should  never  be  teased  into  countermand- 
ing an  order  given  by  these  officers,  for  this  makes  you  constantly  teased. 
You  must  never  allow  reports  of  one  about  the  other,  nor  importunate 
solicitations,  nor  care  when  they  take  offence,  for  that  is  giving  yourself  up 
to  be  tormented.  Prevent  gossiping  between  servants  of  all  grades  ;  they 
only  combine  together  to  resist  your  commands,  and  let  order  and  reason 
govern  your  Highness,  not  the  prattle  of  maids  or  valets,  to  whom  you  are 
now  enslaved  ;  and  while  they  thus  abuse  your  goodness,  you  will  always 
be  despised,  and  lose  control  over  your  people." 

This  is  strong  language,  it  must  be  owned,  but  not  more 
strong  than  wholesome.  Elizabeth  made  the  first  advance 
towards  that  sterling  excellence  of  character  (for  which  she 
is  praised  by  her  undiscriminating  biographers  long  before 
she  deserved  it),  when  she  listened  mildly  to  this  true  friend, 
and  acted  on  his  counsels. 

"  Let  it  be  known,"  continues  her  wise  monitor,  that  you  will  be  ruled 
by  reason  ;  that  you  abhor  flattery  and  lying ;  that  you  will  hear  no  tales  or 
importunities  ;  that  you  will  have  no  coquetry  in  your  presence  ;  that  the 
men-servants  shall  keep  their  places  at  the  door,  so  that,  when  you  want  a 
little  private  conversation,  you  may  not  be  obliged  to  retire  to  your  bed- 
room or  dressing-room  ;  also,  that  you  will  not  allow  private  individuals  to 
bring  in  persons  unknown,  nor  even  ambassadors,  unless  when  you  are 
attended  as  becomes  your  quality." 

The  recommendation  of  all  this  theory  of  right  leads  to 
the  natural  calculation  of  how  much  practical  wrong  was 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


87 


actually  established.  Nevertheless,  the  faithful  adviser, 
pursuing  his  reforms,  in  a  few  months  was  enabled  to  pay 
her  London  jeweller  £50  as  part  of  payment  for  a  pair  of 
diamond  spurs,  costing  £100,  with  which  she  had  presented 
her  dear  Frederic.  There  was  likewise  cash  in  hand  for 
Schomberg  to  purchase  her  next  year's  stores,  at  Frankfort 
fair  ;  among  which  were  "  a  thousand  pins  in  a  paper."  i 

The  young  Electress  took  with  her  lord  a  tour  of  pro- 
gress to  view  the  beautiful  new  palace  he  was  erecting  for 
her,  on  her  dower-principality  of  Frankenthal.  During  the 
summer  they  visited  the  Upper  Palatinate,  one  of  the  most 
picturesque  and  romantic  districts  in  Germany,  abutting  on 
the  kingdom  of  Bohemia.  The  old  Electress  Juliana  came 
to  Heidelberg  to  take  care  of  the  infant  hereditary  prince, 
in  the  absence  of  his  parents.  This  worthy  Dutchwoman, 
who  was  not,  by  the  way,  disliked  by  Elizabeth  more  than 
she  was  by  Schomberg,  conducted  herself  as  a  loving  grand- 
dame  to  the  little  Henry  Frederic,  and  wrote  a  pleasant  re- 
cord of  his  infantine  charms  to  J ames  I.  "  He  grows  as  tall, 
fine,  and  pretty  as  possible.  I  often  wish  he  could  have 
the  honour  of  being  seen  by  your  Majesty  ;  I  am  sure  he 
would  soon  get  into  your  good  graces.'^  After  the  return 
of  the  princely  pair  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  the  Elector 
Palatine  in  August,  Juliana,  announcing  the  health  and 
happiness  of  the  Princess  to  her  father,  observes,  that  she 
loved  her  husband  better  than  ever,  and  that  she  was  at 
that  very  moment  playing  with  and  caressing  her  infant 
prince/' 

Nothing  now  interrupted  the  married  happiness  of  Eliza- 
beth, excepting  the  absurd  precedence  over  her  husband, 
which  her  father,  and  above  all,  her  mother,  had  insisted 
upon  in  her  marriage  articles,  and  which,  if  we  may  judge 
from  analogies,  she  herself  stickled  for  earnestly.  All  the 
wiseacres  in  the  councils  at  Heidelberg  and  St  James's  sat 
in  solemn  disputation  on  points  for  and  against  it,  which 
broke  out  ever  and  anon,  until  the  cause  of  controversy 
vanished  among  the  shadows  of  Elizabeth's  subsequent  fatal 

1  State-Paper  MS. 


88 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


queeiiship.  So  unpopular  was  this  precedence  among  Fre- 
deric's neighbours,  allies,  and  relatives,  that  Elizabeth  gave 
up  many  a  family  festival  of  gay  christenings  and  marriages, 
rather  than  go  where  it  must  have  been  acted  upon  to  the 
indignation  of  the  kindred  potentates  of  Deuxponts,  Brand- 
enburg, Wurtemberg,  and  Baden. 

The  halcyon  days  of  Elizabeth's  married  life  were  clouded 
very  mournfully  by  the  death  of  her  friend  the  Countess  of 
Schomberg  in  childbed,  of  puerperal  fever,  a  few  days  after 
she  had  become  the  happy  mother  of  a  boy.  The  fatal  disease 
did  not  affect  the  reason  of  the  poor  sufferer,  who  tenderly 
exhorted  her  weeping  mistress  to  live  so  that  they  might 
renew  their  friendship  in  Paradise,  and  then  she  bade 
the  Elector  and  her  loving  husband,  and  unconscious  babe, 
a  solemn  farewell.^  Elizabeth,  whose  personal  conduct 
expressed  more  affectionate  concern  than  her  letter, 
thus  mentions  the  death  of  this  faithful  friend  to  King 
James : — 

Elizabeth,  Princess,  to  James  1.2 

Sir, — I  have  not  written  to  your  Majesty  for  a  long  time  for  want  of  a 
subject.  Kow  I  have  to  tell  you,  with  much  regret,  of  the  loss  of  my  lady 
of  honour,  Dudley,  for  she  died  of  high  fever  in  her  confinement,  on  the 
8th  of  December,  for  which  I  am  very  sorry,  since  both  in  her  life,  and 
when  dying,  she  testified  the  respect  and  friendship  she  bore  me,  and  her 
sincere  fidelity.  She  has  left  a  son.  She  is  a  great  loss  to  me,  for  she  was 
very  careful  in  all  that  concerned  me.  Your  Majesty  will  perhaps  be  teased 
by  one  or  another  for  her  place ;  but  I  intreat  you  to  consider  that  it  is 
not  every  one  that  is  fitted  for  it  in  this  country,  and  in  this  place.  I  in- 
treat your  Majesty,  therefore,  to  let  me  know  who  are  solicitous  for  it,  and 
I  will  write  you  word  whom  I  judge  [to  be]  most  suitable  ;  or  perhaps  in 
two  months  I  may  send  Colonel  Schomberg  to  determine  with  your  Ma- 
jesty on  this  point,  and  divers  others  of  importance.  For  the  rest,  all  is 
as  usual  in  these  parts.  The  Elector  and  my  little  black  baby  are  very 
well,  thank  God — to  whom  I  heartily  recommend  you. 

I  ever  remain,  Sire,  your  most  humble  and  obedient  Daughter  and 
Servant, 

"  Elizabeth. 

''Heidelberg,  Dec.  14,  [1615]." 

The  motherless  babe  of  her  departed  friend  was  reared 
up  in  her  own  nursery,  with  her  black  baby/'  as  she 
called  her  own  little  son,  who  had  very  dark  hair  and 


*  Harleian  MS.,  Brit.  Mus.  »  State-Paper  MS.— Royal  Letters. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


89 


eyes  like  his  father.  The  infant  Schomberg,  named  Fre- 
deric, after  his  loving  sponsor  and  sovereign,  was  soon 
rendered  entirely  an  orphan  by  the  death  of  his  noble 
father,  who  did  indeed  visit  England,  as  the  Princess  an- 
nounced to  King  James,  but  died  directly  he  returned  to 
Heidelberg.  Young  Frederic  Schomberg  was  brought  up 
a  soldier,  among  all  the  hot  strife  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War, 
following  the  fortunes  of  his  princely  patrons.  He  is  well 
known  in  our  history  as  Field-Marshal  Duke  of  Schomberg, 
who  fell,  as  the  general  of  William  HI.,  at  the  passage  of 
the  Boyne  Water.^ 

The  appointment  of  the  lady  of  honour  who  was  to  suc- 
ceed her  deceased  friend,  was  the  chief  subject  of  Eliza- 
beth's correspondence  and  thoughts.  She  was  to  be  an 
Englishwoman,  sent  and  paid  by  the  King  her  father,  and 
of  course  was  rather  chosen  according  to  his  fancy  than 
hers.  Elizabeth  petitioned  for  a  young  lady  like  her  lost 
Anne,  who  would  be  companionable  to  her,  especially  in 
following  the  chase.  Since  the  broken  arm  of  the  Land- 
gravine of  Hesse,  the  German  ladies  had  shrunk  from 
partaking  her  dangerous  sylvan  sports.  James  L  inti- 
mated that  a  woman  of  staid  years  would  suit  her  best. 
Elizabeth  petitioned  for  her  former  guardian  and  early 
friend.  Lady  Harrington,  then  a  widow.  Sir  Henry 
Wotton  was  sent  to  negotiate  the  important  matter.  His 
observations  on  the  young  princely  pair  at  Heidelberg,  in  a 
letter  to  his  royal  master,  are  given  graphically.  The 
smallness  of  Frederic's  stature,  in  which  he  resembled  his 
Nassau  kindred,  had  often  been  discussed  when  he  came 
to  wed  Elizabeth.  The  King  thought  his  son-in-law  would 
grow,  and  had  evidently  set  Sir  Henry  Wotton  to  send  him 
intelligence  regarding  his  height.  "  I  do  not  find  the  Pala- 
tine,''  writes  Sir  Henry  Wotton  to  King  James,  "  in  the 
judgment  of  my  eye,  much  grown  since  your  Majesty  saw 
him,  either  in  height  or  breadth,  though  there  be  a  com- 
mon opinion  of  the  first.  Par  boutades  (literally,  by  sud- 
den kicks)  he  is  merry,  but  for  the  most  part  cogitative,  or 
as  they  here  call  it,  melancolique.  The  Palatine  and  my 
^  Burke's  Peerage.  Benger's  Life  of  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia. 


90 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Lady  [Elizabeth]  adopt  kind  rather  than  amorous  deport- 
ment, according  to  the  sober  manners  of  the  country/'^  He 
mentions  the  differences  between  them  at  first,  which 
threatened  to  cause  lasting  disunion,  owing  to  the  mischief- 
making  of  servants,  but  now  happily  settled.  "  My  lady, 
your  gracious  daughter,""  he  informs  King  James,  "  re- 
taineth  still  all  the  former  original  verdure  [freshness]  of 
her  complexion  and  features,  though  she  be  now  the  mother 
of  one  of  the  sweetest  children  that  I  think  this  world  can 
yield."  2 

It  was  settled  between  Elizabeth  and  Wotton,that  Lady 
Harrington  was  to  be  the  first  lady ;  King  James  allowing 
her  the  munificent  stipend  of  £700.  Many  complaints  did 
Elizabeth  pour  into  the  ear  of  her  countryman  concerning 
the  old  Electress  Juliana,  who,  she  said,  would  have  cer- 
tainly succeeded  in  depriving  her  of  the  contested  prece- 
dence, but  for  the  firm  support  of  Schomberg.  Elizabeth 
and  Frederic  made  a  series  of  progresses  among  the  Ger- 
man principalities,  as  far  as  the  Calvinist  stronghold  of 
Sedan,  close  to  France.  The  Princess  returned  to  Heidel- 
berg for  her  second  confinement.  She  became  the  mother 
of  a  second  son,  on  Christmas  Eve.  The  very  same  day. 
arrived  a  great  relay  of  English  nurses,  cordials,  and  con- 
fections, which  the  coddling  propensities  of  James  L  had 
provided  for  his  dear  child.^  It  is  very  probable  that  my 
Lady  Harrington  formed  part  of  this  caravan,  because  she 
was  early  employed  in  announcing  the  happy  event.^  The 
young  Prince  was  brought  to  baptism  by  such  a  number  of 
sponsors  or  witnesses,  according  to  the  customs  of  the  coun- 
try, that  the  enumeration  of  their  titles  only  would  fill  a 
dull  page  or  two.  He  was  named  after  his  maternal  and 
paternal  uncles,  Charles,  Prince  of  Wales,  and  Louis,  Duke 
of  Simmeren,  his  young  father's  younger  brother.  He  was 
the  Charles-Louis  Elector,  too  well  known  in  history. 

The  years  rolled  oh  at  this  happy  period  of  Elizabeth's 
life  with  few  troubles,  excepting  those  arising  from  her 

1  Wotton's  Despatches,  April  1616. 

2  Ibid.  3  MS.,  edited  by  F.  Devon,  Esq. 
*  Carlton  Correspondence — State-Paper  MS. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


91 


mania  concerning  precedence.  She  meant  to  visit  her 
father,  but  probably  her  funds  were  not  ample  enough. 
However,  her  children,  her  English  garden,  her  animals, 
and  her  hunting,  wiled  away  her  youth  at  Heidelberg 
pleasantly.  The  friendship  of  Lord  Dorchester  enabled 
the  Princess  still  further  to  cultivate  her  taste  for  monkeys. 
Hitherto  she  was  the  possessor  of  only  one  monkey,  but 
Lord  Dorchester  sent  her  two  which  he  had  recently  re- 
ceived from  some  Indian  correspondent  at  the  Hague,  in  the 
spring  of  1618.  The  new  monkeys  were  consigned  to  the 
care  of  mistress  Elizabeth  Apsley.  The  young  lady  ac- 
knowledged the  addition  made  to  her  charges,  and  her  Illus- 
trious mistress  wrote  the  address  thus :  "  To  Sir  Dudley 
Carlton,  from  the  fair  hands  of  Mrs  Elizabeth  Apsley,  chief 
gouvernante  to  all  the  monkeys  and  dogs.''  Elizabeth 
Apsley's  letter  contains  a  sketch  of  the  manner  in  which  her 
mistress  passed  the  first  hours  in  the  morning.  It  appears 
that  her  children  and  her  monkeys  were  brought  to  her 
bed,  and  all  recreated  themselves  with  a  game  of  play  before 
the  labours  of  the  toilet  commenced.  "  The  monkeys  you 
sent  hither  came  very  well,"  l  wrote  the  fair  governess  of 
the  menagerie,  "  and  are  now  grown  so  proud  that  they 
will  come  to  nobody  but  her  Highness,  who  hath  them  in 
her  bed  every  morning,  and  the  little  Prince.  He  is  so  fond 
of  them,  that  he  says,  he  desires  '  nothing  but  such  monkeys 
of  his  own.'  They  [the  monkeys]  be  as  envious  as  they  be 
pretty,  for  the  old  one  of  that  kind,  which  her  Highness  had 
when  your  lordship  was  here,  will  not  be  acquainted  with 
his  countrymen  by  no  means.  They  do  make  very  good 
sport,  and  make  her  Highness  very  merry."  Lady  Harring- 
ton thought  these  Important  newcomers  of  sufficient  conse- 
quence to  assure  his  lordship,  that  her  Highness  esteemed 
them  as  jewels." 

Her  Highnesses  attention  was,  however,  drawn  from  the 
contemplation  of  these  esteemed  animals  to  the  important 
revelation  of  a  most  horrible  and  bloody-minded  plot,  con- 
trived by  the  dying  consort  of  Matthias,  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, against  the  harmless  lives  of  herself  and  her  eldest 
^  State-Paper  MS.,  April  1618 — Carlton  Despatches. 


92 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


babe.  But  wherefore  her  Imperial  Majesty  should  have 
plotted  murders  so  utterly  useless  to  herself,  no  one  but  a 
plot-monger  in  the  seventeenth  century  can  imagine.  The 
Empress  expired  of  a  lingering  malady,  about  the  same 
time  that  the  plot  was  introduced  to  Elizabeth  and  her 
anxious  friends  and  parents,  probably  in  happy  un- 
consciousness that  such  an  undertaking  had  ever  been 
attributed  to  her ;  for  she  was  well  respected  by  her  con- 
temporaries, and  enjoys  the  rare  historical  distinction  of 
having  had  a  husband  who  died  of  grief  for  her  loss.^  As 
for  the  plot  itself,  it  indubitably  belongs  to  the  class  and 
order  called  in  political,  though  not  natural  history, 
"  mares'  nests.''  Any  fortunate  finder  who  could  light  on  a 
feasible  one  at  this  period,  was  pretty  sure  to  enrich  him- 
self, and  rise  to  place  and  power.  Such  was  the  case  with 
Captain  Bell,  whose  rigmarole  in  our  archives  is  one  of  the 
many  prototypes  of  the  last  of  this  class,  got  up  by  Titus 
Oates,  only  it  4s  more  cunning,  and  not  invested  with  the 
terrible  interest  of  wholesale  homicide. 

Like  most  figments  of  the  kind,  it  had  a  slender  peg  or 
two  of  fact  to  hang  upon.  When  George  William,  Elector 
of  Brandenburg,  married  Charlotte,  Princess  Palatine,  he 
changed  his  Lutheran  creed,  to  the  extreme  indignation  of 
his  subjects,  for  that  of  the  family  he  had  married  into,  and 
became  forthwith  as  thorough-going  a  partisan  of  the  Cal- 
vinist  League  as  his  variable  nature  would  let  him  be.^ 
In  the  midst  of  his  proselyte  zeal,  the  declining  Empress 
of  Germany  had  courteously  invited  the  young  Electress 
Palatine  to  visit  her  at  Eatisbon,  where  the  Imperial  Diet 
met  that  year.  The  infant,  her  eldest  son,  then  little 
more  than  two  years  old,  was  invited  to  accompany  his 
mother.  The  least  observant  of  persons  might  have  guessed 
from  the  two  principal  defects  in  Elizabeth's  character, 
personal  ambition  and  vanity,  that  both  would  have  been 
wonderfully  gratified  at  this  grand  ceremonial,  where  the 
Empress  would  probably  liave  persuaded  her  to  keep  her 

1  Atlas  Geograpliique. 

2  History  of  House  of  Brandenburg,  by  Frederic  the  Great,  bis  great- 
grandson,  who  gives  him  a  wretched  character. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


93 


loving  spouse  out  of  the  calamitous  war  she  actually 
goaded  him  into.  Their  brother-in-law,  George  William, 
perhaps  acting  on  his  knowledge  of  her  character,  sent 
for  one  of  Elizabeth's  countrymen,  of  the  name  of  Bell,  an 
English  diplomat  seeking  employment  in  Germany,  and 
condescendingly  informed  him,  according  to  this  veracious 
person's  ex  parte  evidence,  that,  to  his  certain  knowledge, 
if  his  Princess  accepted  the  Imperial  invitation,  she  and  her 
baby  would  be  murdered  by  the  Empress.  On  the  Em- 
press, in  the  year  1618,  renewing  the  invitation,  Bell  took 
upon  himself  to  discover  the  plot,  and  Elizabeth  being 
appealed  to  in  corroboration,  took  the  Empress's  letters  of 
kindness  out  of  her  pocket,''  and  acknowledged  that  she 
had  been  so  much  deceived  by  them  that  she  had  intended 
to  go  to  Eatisbon.  Transported  with  gratitude  at  her 
miraculous  preservation  by  means  of  Captain  Bell  from  the 
designs  of  the  Empress  to  destroy  herself  and  little  boy, 
Elizabeth  presented  him  with  a  rich  diamond  ring.  Further, 
she  recommended  him  to  be  rewarded  by  her  father,  as 
the  vigilant  guardian  of  her  life.  Bell  posted  to  Eng- 
land with  this  marvellous  news,  armed  withal  with  the 
letter  of  the  Empress,  written  in  Dutch,"  as  he  says.^ 
Singular  enough,  as  such  letters  were  invariably  written,  if 
private,  in  French  ;  if  state  circulars,  in  Latin.  However,  it 
had  better  have  been  written  in  Arabic  than  German,  for  the 
comprehension  of  James  and  his  ministers.  Therefore  the 
ingenious  bearer  had  it  all  his  own  way  when  he  translated 
it  at  Theobald's  Palace  for  the  information  of  the  King  and 
Charles,  Prince  of  Wales,  who  gave  him  an  interview  in  the 
garden.^  King  James,  born  and  reared  as  he  was  amidst 
plots  and  counterplots,  relished  a  spice  of  the  same  kind 
of  adventures  for  his  daughter.  Whether  George  William, 
Elector  of  Brandenburg,  took  Captain  Bell  for  rogue  or 
fool,  or  whether  George  William's  part  in  the  business  was 
all  sheer  invention,  it  is  certain  that  for  a  time  the  matter 
was  profitable  to  the  ingenious  plot-finder,  who  obtained, 
either  from  the  King  or  Prince,  a  lucrative  place  in  the 


1  State-Paper  MSS. 


2  Ibid. 


94 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


Cornish  mines.  The  whole  affair  was  well  worthy  the 
sardonic  pen  of  Ben  Jonson,  who  drew  the  characteris- 
tics of  the  age  he  lived  in  with  hideous  truthfulness. 
EHzabeth's  Captain  Bell  ^  might  have  figured  with  Captain 
Face  and  Dr  Subtle. 

Elizabeth's  eldest  girl  was  born  November  18,  1618, 
and  christened  EHzabeth.  Anne  of  Denmark  never  knew 
that  the  queenly  rank  she  desired  for  her  had  devolved 
on  her  daughter ;  she  died  in  the  succeeding  March,  just 
before  that  calamity  befell  Elizabeth.  A  cold  commonplace 
letter  of  condolence  to  King  James,  little  worth  quoting,  is 
all  that  remains  to  mark  the  feelings  of  the  daughter.^ 
There  had  been  little  friendship  between  the  Queen  of  Great 
Britain  and  her  daughter.  Indeed  they  had  been  very  little 
in  the  society  of  each  other.  Not  long  after  this  event,  the 
Lady  Harrington  craved  leave  of  absence,  and  departed  to 
England.  There  were  signs  in  the  times  portending  severer 

1  He  must  have  been  a  most  inventive  person,  for  he  is  chiefly  known  by 
having  made  himself  the  hero  of  a  ghost-story.  Aubrey,  who  identifies  our 
man  closely  enough,  tells  us  that  Captain  Bell,  the  translator  of  Luther's 
Tahle-Talk^  had  been  a  diplomatic  agent  of  James  I.  in  Germany.  In  the 
introduction  to  that  work,  puolished  during  Cromwell's  domination,  Cap- 
tain Bell  indulges  in  so  many  figments  as  positively  to  raise  doubts  of  the 
authenticity  of  Luther's  work  itself.  Many  literary  persons  set  it  down  as 
a  forgery  altogether  ;  and  no  wonder ;  for,  though  racy  and  brilliant  in 
style  and  ability,  it  contains  some  very  odd  passages.  The  veracious  Cap- 
tain's mode  of  introducing  his  translation,  precedes  and  surpasses,  as  a 
bookselling  puff,  Defoe's  celebrated  introduction  to  Drelincourt  on  Death, 
with  the  Narrative  of  the  Ghost  of  Mistress  Veal.  Captain  Bell  had, 
years  before,  undertaken  the  translation  of  Luther's  Table-Talk,  and 
brought  a  copy  with  him  in  German  to  England ;  but  he  found  no 
leisure.  One  night,  his  wife  being  sleeping  by  his  side,  he  awoke  trembling 
with  horror,  and  saw  stand  by  his  bolster  an  old  gentleman  of  foreign 
aspect,  with  a  venerable  white  beard  reaching  to  his  girdle  ;  if  he  meant 
him  for  Luther,  the  description  is  by  no  means  a  likeness.  The  spectre, 
with  most  courteous  manner,  said  to  Captain  Bell,  Will  you  find  time  to 
translate  that  book  ]  Well,  then,  I  will  provide  you  with  leisure  anon  !  " 
Then  the  shape  vanished.  Soon  after  Bell  was  handed  before  the  Privy 
Council,  and  committed  to  the  Gatehouse  prison,  for  discrepancies  un- 
known to  Aubrey,  but  not  difficult  to  surmise  from  the  apocryphal  appear- 
ance of  some  of  his  "  plot "  documents  now  extant  in  the  State-Paper  Office. 
During  his  long  imprisonment  he  found  leisure  to  translate  Luther's  work, 
and,  above  all,  to  concoct  the  audacious  untruths  in  the  introduction. 
Captain  Bell  gave  out  that  he  was  committed  for  no  offence  excepting 
asking  for  the  arrears  of  his  sinecure.  Moreover,  the  dominant  fanatics 
were  wonderfully  gratified  with  his  ghost-story  ;  so  his  publication  turned 
out  a  better  hit  than  his  plot. 

«  State-Paper  MS. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


95 


service  than  suited  her.  She  never  returned  to  Heidelberg 
again. 

A  few  hours  after  the  death  of  Elizabeth's  mother,  occurred 
the  death  of  the  Emperor  Matthias/  which  hastened  the  out- 
burst of  the  religious  civil  war  In  Germany.  The  successor 
to  his  hereditary  dominions,  his  cousin  Ferdinand,  had,  In 
hopes  of  preserving  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia,  gone  through 
the  ceremonial  of  being  elected  king  during  the  life  of  the 
Emperor.  But  Ferdinand,  being  the  sourest  of  fanatics  as  a 
Eoman  Catholic,  commenced  a  furious  persecution  of  the 
Taborltes  and  other  wild  sectaries  In  his  new  kingdom. 
They,  being  wonderfully  like  him  in  temper,  threw  his 
ministers  out  of  the  council-chamber  window  at  Prague — 
that  being  the  most  approved  way  of  showing  political 
difference  In  the  seventeenth  century.  Usually  the  per- 
sons thus  ejected  were  cut  to  pieces — as  In  the  cases  of  St 
Malgrin  and  Conclnl — by  men-at-arms  below.  Fortunately 
the  diplomatists  of  Ferdinand  alighted  on  a  friendly  dung- 
hill, and  were  neither  harmed  by  the  fall  nor  by  anything 
else.  The  Bohemian  Insurgents  declared  their  throne  va- 
cant, and  ready  to  be  filled  up  by  any  one  eligible.  All 
Europe  knew  that  one  was  to  be  the  Elector  Palatine,  their 
neighbour,  if  he  could  be  induced  to  accept  It.  The  diffi- 
culty was  to  persuade  him  to  decide.  August  arrived,  but  the 
Elector  Palatine  was  still  In  a  state  of  uncertainty  regarding 
the  crown  of  Bohemia.  When  It  seemed  to  draw  back,  he 
eagerly  watched  for  its  next  approach  ;  and  when  it  cast 
itself  at  his  feet,  he  avoided  it  with  tears  and  sighs.  Ac- 
cording to  the  following  letter  he  was  at  Amberg,  the 
capital  of  the  High  Palatinate,  close  to  the  Bohemian 
border.  It  is  the  first  of  an  Interesting  series  which  he 
addressed  to  his  wife,  written  in  very  easy  French.  In 
their  course  we  shall  see  them  unveil  all  the  feelings  of 
the  husband  and  father's  heart.  Each  letter  commences 
with  the  stiff  conventional  ''Madame,''  but  invariably  finishes 
with  the  adoring  phraseology  of  the  lover-husband.  One 
grieves  to  find  a  heart  so  fit  for  just  and  peaceful  govern- 


^  New  style,  March  20,  1618-19— Atlas  Geographique. 


96 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


merit,  so  open  to  all  tender  and  friendly  aflfectlons,  doomed 
to  wither  and  perish  amidst  the  horrors  of  civil  war — nay, 
of  religious  civil  war — the  worst  aspect  under  which  the 
demon  Moloch  can  show  his  hideous  aspect : 

To  Madame  the  Electress  Palatine. 

Madame, — The  Count  de  Linange  has  at  last  brought  me  your  dear 
letter  ;  he  was  detained  on  the  way  near  *  Comte  Graf,'^  and  also  at  Sultz- 
bach.  I  find  him  purblind  as  ever.  I  arrived  here  yesterday,  where  I 
found  the  Duke  of  Weimar,^  who  has  been  to  visit  Heidelberg.  He  no 
longer  assumes  the  Italian,  but  is  very  properly  dressed  ;  I  find  him  much 
to  my  taste.  He  left  this  evening,  but  comes  back  to  me  very  soon,  and 
will  maintain  a  company  of  a  hundred  horse  at  his  own  expense.  I  have 
not  yet  seen  the  Princess  of  Anhalt,  for  she  lodges,  with  all  her  children, 
at  the  Countess  of  Ortenburg's ;  besides,  she  begins  to  feel  ill,  and  I  think 
will  have  her  acouchement  very  soon.  We  make  the  Supper^  here  the  next 
Sunday.  I  have  heard  nothing  from  Bohemia  this  week.  It  would  appear 
that,  for  one  crown  Ferdinand  will  gain  at  Frankfort^  he  will  lose  two  else- 
where. God  give  grace  that  so  he  may  do  !  A  very  happy  prince  he  is, 
for  he  has  the  luck  to  be  hated  by  everybody  ! 

"  Believe,  my  dear  heart,  that  I  ofttimes  wish  myself  near  you  :  it  seems 
long  to  that  happiness.  Meantime  I  entreat  you  love  me  ever,  and  think 
constantly  of  me,  as  of  him  who  will  be,  until  the  tomb,  with  all  affection, 
Madame,  your  very  faithful  friend  and  most  affectionate  servitor, 

"  Frederic. 

"  D'Amberg,  this  13th  August  1619." 

Ferdinand  was  crowned  Emperor  of  Germany  at  Frank- 
fort the  succeeding  week,  August  20  ;  but  Frederic,  Elec- 
tor Palatine,  the  head  and  leader  of  the  German  Princes, 
whose  office  It  was  to  nominate  him,  was  absent  from  his 
appointed  place  at  his  right  hand  that  day.  The  Imperial 
crown  was  observed  to  totter — no  marvel,  when  its  accus- 
tomed supporter  was  away.  Nevertheless  he  continued  to 
carry  on  the  semblance  of  loyalty  to  Ferdinand  II.,  and,  as 
Vicar  of  the  German  Empire,  gave  him  the  title  of  King  of 
Bohemia  only  three  weeks  before  he  assumed  it  himself.* 

^  The  series  of  family  letters  called  the  Bromley  Letters,  from  which 
this  letter  is  quoted,  valuable  as  they  are,  will  be  found  incorrect  as  to 
names,  dates,  and  places. 

^  Supposed  by  mistake  to  be  the  celebrated  Duke  Bernard  of  Saxe- 
Weimar  ;  but  this  hero  was  the  youngest  brother  of  several  younger  sons, 
and  was  about  ten  years  old. 

^  He  means  the  Holy  Communion. 
Atlas  Geographique, — "  German  Empire." 


ELIZABETH 


STUART 


CHAPTEE 


IV. 


SUMMARY 


Elizabeth  and  Maurice  of  Orange  insist  on  her  husband's  acceptance  of  Bo- 
hemia— James  I.  refuses  to  acknowledge  their  regality — Elizabeth  and 
Frederic  depart  for  Prague — Leaves  her  younger  children  in  the  care  of 
the  Electress  Juliana — Progress  through  Southern  Germany  with  her  hus- 
band and  eldest  son — Arrival  at  Prague — Meeting  with  the  Taborites — 
Laughter  at  their  strange  proceedings — Her  coronation  takes  place  three 
days  after  that  of  the  King — Crowned  with  the  diadem  of  St  Elizabeth — 
Left  by  her  husband  in  Prague — His  letter — Women  of  Prague's  de- 
puties insulted  by  the  Queen's  servants — Ladies  of  Prague  present  her 
with  a  magnificent  cradle — Birth  of  Prince  Rupert — Elizabeth  waited  on 
by  the  Taborites  (  Vignette) — Description  of  her  portrait — Change  of  for- 
tune— James  I.  sends  F.  Nethersole  to  be  her  secretary — Frederic's  cam- 
paign and  tender  letters  to  Elizabeth — Surprise  of  Prague — Hasty  retreat 
of  the  Queen — Taunted  concerning  the  Bridge  Statues — Refuge  in  Bres- 
lau — Elizabeth  asks  protection  during  her  accouchement  of  the  Elector 
of  Brandenburg — Refused — Tender  letter  of  her  husband — She  retires  to 
Custrin — Birth  of  her  infant,  Prince  Maurice — Insults  of  the  Catholics  on 
Elizabeth's  distress — Frederic  joins  her — Forced  from  Custrin — Prince 
Maurice  and  the  States  invite  her  to  Holland — Guarded  by  English 
cavaliers — Given  a  confiscated  house  at  the  Hague — Kindness  to  its  un- 
fortunate owner — Birth  of  her  daughter  Louisa — Devotion  of  Christian 
of  Brunswick  to  the  Queen — Her  children  sent  to  her  from  Brandenburg 
— Coolness  to  her  young  daughter  Elizabeth — Letter  of  Christian — 
Unavailing  efforts  of  her  husband  and  Christian — Births  of  Elizabeth's 
sons  Louis  and  Edward — Deaths  of  Christian  of  Brunswick,  of  James 
L,  of  Maurice  of  Orange— Her  friend  Amelia  of  Solms  marries  the  Prince 
of  Orange — Elizabeth's  letters  to  Sir  T.  Roe — Mentions  the  marriage  of 
Charles  I.  and  Henrietta  Maria — Birth  of  her  third  daughter  Henrietta. 

The  most  splendid  comet  that  had  been  seen  since  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Huguenot  wars  had  flamed  through 
the  heavens  during  the  preceding  summer.  The  learned  in 
VOL.  vin.  G 


98 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


those  days,  being  as  ignorant  as  they  are  in  these  of  the  real 
business  of  the  celestial  messenger,  scrupled  not  to  accuse  it 
of  interference  with  affairs  below.  The  Germans  insisted  that 
it  came  to  announce  the  death  of  their  Emperor  Matthias. 
King  James  thought  it  was  sent  for  his  queen,  and  wrote 
some  very  pretty  verses  on  the  occasion.  Contemporary 
historians  were  positive  that  it  betokened  the  terrific 
Thirty  Years'  War,  which  immediately  followed  its  appari- 
tion. It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  appearance  of  extra- 
ordinary comets  are  often  coincident  with  notable  human 
commotions;  perhaps  because  they  occasion  unusual  weather, 
and  unusual  weather  irritates  the  brains  and  aggravates 
the  tempers  of  the  most  pugnacious  animals  on  the  face  of 
the  earth.  Men  rushed  to  arms,  they  scarcely  knew  why ; 
and  when  they  were  thoroughly  tired  of  hacking  each 
other  to  pieces,  threw  all  the  blame  on  the  comet !  Modern 
philosophy  has  taken  away  even  this  poor  excuse  for  going 
to  war,  which  is,  after  all,  as  rational  as  any  other. 

Elizabeth,  we  fear,  had  much  more  to  answer  for  as  the 
primary  cause  of  this  tremendous  war  than  the  comet  of 
1619.  When  Frederic  shuddered  and  drew  back  from  the 
leap  into  the  hideous  gulf  of  civil  war,  she  urged  him  on, 
taunting  him  with  the  question,  Why  he  had  married  a 
king's  daughter  if  he  had  dreaded  being  a  king  ?  ''^ 

When  he  went  to  Amberg,  close  on  the  frontier  of 
Bohemia,  to  meet  the  confederate  Calvinist  princes,  they 
were  most  urgent  in  persuading  him  to  accept  the  proffered 
Bohemian  crown,  entreating  him  to  abide  by  the  advice 
of  his  consort,  well  knowing  what  that  advice  would  be. 
Elizabeth  replied  by  letter,  ardently  pressing  his  acceptance 
of  the  crown,  declaring  she  would  endure  the  utmost  de- 
privation and  part  with  her  last  jewel  in  the  cause  ; ^ 
whereby  we  can  ascertain  her  ideas  of  what  real  deprivation 
was.  Still  Frederic  remained  undecided,  and  in  this  mind 
returned  from  Amberg.  Stadtholder  Maurice  had  just 
arrived  at  Heidelberg,  and  was  exulting  with  Elizabeth 
at  the  certainty  of  their  point  being  carried.    But  Juli- 


^  Schiller's  Thirty  Years'  War.  ^  i^id.,  and  Harleian  MSS. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


99 


ana,  whose  foreboding  spirit  anticipated  the  worst,  met 
her  son,  not  with  dissuasive  speeches,  but  with  sobs  and 
streaming  tears,  incapable  of  utterance.  Frederic,  who 
Hked  the  aspect  of  the  future  as  little  as  his  mother  did,  wept 
as  piteously  as  herself  Maurice  of  Orange,  exasperated  at 
the  dejection  of  his  nephew  and  sister,  suddenly  asked 
Juliana  whether  there  was  any  green  baize  to  be  got  in 
Heidelberg  "  Yes,  surely,"  replied  the  old  Electress,  her 
innocent  soul  on  thrifty  thoughts  intent ;  but  what  for, 
Maurice  ?  "  "  To  make  a  fooPs  cap  for  him  who  might  be 
a  king  and  will  not,''  was  the  sardonic  answer  of  the  am- 
bitious Nassau.i  Overcome  by  the  persuasions  of  her  he 
loved,  and  the  sarcasms  of  him  he  feared,  Frederic  signed 
his  acceptance  of  the  antique  elective  crown  of  Bohemia. 
His  mother  took  to  her  bed  in  an  access  of  despair,  while 
Elizabeth  rejoiced  that  she  could  no  more  be  called  Goody 
Palsgrave  and  Mistress  Palatine  by  her  mother's  party  in 
England,  for  she  was  at  length  a  queen.  The  former  re- 
gent, John  des  Deuxponts,  who  knew  full  well  the  resources 
of  the  dominions  he  had  recently  governed,  was  of  the 
despondent  party,  and  sympathised  with  the  grieving 
mother  Juliana.  But  Abraham  Scultetus  cheered  his 
sovereign  with  a  series  of  prophetic  sermons,  in  which  he 
expounded  a  whole  chapter  in  Eevelations  as  foretelling 
great  success  to  the  undertaking.  Thus  encouraged,  Frede- 
ric made  preparations  for  departure  from  his  beautiful  and 
peaceful  Heidelberg  with  his  consort,  meaning  to  take 
possession  of  Prague,  the  capital  of  his  new  royalty.  As  a 
preUminary  act,  he  reinstated  his  faithful  regent,  John  des 
Deuxponts,  in  the  administration  for  the  Palatinate,  and 
entreated  his  mother  to  resume  the  place  in  the  council  she 
had  filled  during  his  minority.  Elizabeth  confided  her  in- 
fant daughter  and  her  second  son,  Charles  Louis,  to  the 
care  of  their  grandmother ;  she  carried  her  eldest  boy  with 
her,  meaning  to  present  him  to  their  new  subjects. 

Roman  Catholics,  Lutherans,  and  Calvinists,  had  united 
in  asserting  their  national  right  to  the  elective  regal  fran- 

*  Spanheim's  Life  of  the  Electress  Juliana. 


100 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


chise,  and  they  had  hired  withal  a  skilful  mercenary  com- 
mander, Ernest  Count  de  Mansfelt  (who,  by  the  way, 
exceedingly  resembled  in  morale  the  Italian  Condottieri 
of  the  middle  ages).  This  worthy  was  to  organise  the  huge 
and  crude  levies  of  the  Bohemian  ban,  or  militia.  Not- 
withstanding such  promising  preliminaries.  King  James 
perversely  refused  to  acknowledge  the  regality  of  his  son- 
in-law  and  daughter,  and  set  the  example  of  denying  them 
the  titles  of  king  and  queen,  forbidding  his  ambassador, 
Elizabeth's  friend  and  poet,  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  to  call 
them  so.  He  declared  that  a  few  weeks  would  show  that 
they  could  only  rely  on  the  very  small  minority  of  Cal- 
vinists.  Indeed,  James  knew  that  all  other  religions  would 
be  disgusted  and  persecuted  by  Frederic's  party.  More- 
over, he  declared  he  could  not  for  such  a  hopeless  chance 
interrupt  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  his  country,  break  up 
its  commerce,  and  plunge  it  into  the  miseries  of  war  and 
taxation  ;  he  did  not  deem  his  daughter's  personal  aggrand- 
isement a  sufficient  equivalent. 

The  last  day  that  Elizabeth  and  Frederic  passed  at  Hei- 
delberg so  strongly  resembled  the  last  day  that  King  James 
her  father  spent  at  Edinburgh  on  the  eve  of  his  departure 
to  take  possession  of  the  English  crown,  that  the  same  words 
would  describe  both.  Elizabeth,  who  then  was  a  girl  of 
six  years  old,  must  have  remembered  it  well.  The  farewell 
in  both  instances  was  on  a  Sunday.  Frederic  attended  two 
services  with  his  son,  and  in  the  afternoon  took  leave  of  his 
affectionate  people  with  a  paternal  speech.  They  were  in 
agonies  of  grief,  and  stretched  out  their  arms  to  him  with 
sighs  and  tears.  The  day  was  dismally  wet  and  dark,  but 
the  people  crowded  round  their  departing  sovereign  and 
entreated  him  not  to  forsake  them.  In  their  utmost  de- 
jection, they  could  not  anticipate  the  fifty  years  of  unutter- 
able woes  to  which  that  desertion  doomed  them.  Elizabeth 
was  likewise  absorbed  in  her  devotions;  her  preacher  was 
of  the  Church  of  England — Dr  Chapman — whose  sermon 
was  like  that  of  Abraham  Scultetus,  prophetic  of  prosperity. 
Early  the  next  morning  the  great  departure  took  place  in 
eighteen  coaches.     Elizabeth's  English  ladies  were  not 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


101 


numerous.  All  vacant  places  were  filled  by  noble  German 
girls ;  and  Countess  Amelia  de  Solms,  a  beautiful  and 
clever  relative  of  the  Palatine  family,  filled  the  functions 
of  Elizabeth's  lost  friend,  Anne  Dudley.  Count  de  Solms, 
who  held  a  petty  sovereignty,  was  Frederic's  Grand 
Marshal ;  he  was  likewise  the  possessor  of  small  feudal 
dominions  held  under  the  Palatinate.  Frederic,  in  his 
letters,  does  not  forget  now  and  then  to  joke  concerning 
Solms  red  face  and  the  corpulence  of  his  wife  ;  but  this  pair 
were  the  parents  of  three  charming  daughters,  all  faithfully 
attached  to  Elizabeth,  whose  chief  happiness  in  after  life 
was  to  rest  on  Amelia. 

The  departure  of  the  elect  King  and  Queen  from  their 
happy  home  and  loving  people  took  place  September  27, 
1619.  There  was  then  at  Heidelberg  John  Harrison,  an 
English  minister,  chaplain  to  the  fanatic  Lord  Brooke, 
w^ho  has  left  some  quaint  observations  on  the  subject,  and 
tried  his  hand  at  a  turn  of  prophesy  too  on  the  happy 
fate  of  that  poor  child  whose  early  and  (disastrous  death 
forms  the  saddest  page  in  our  o'er  true  history.  His  pre- 
diction breaks  out  thus :  In  the  face  and  countenance  of 
the  hopeful  young  Prince,  methinks  I  observed  some  divine 
thing  extraordinary,  which  may  give  the  world  to  conceive 
he  will  one  day  make  good  all  those  great  hopes  which 
were  dead  in  Prince  Henry  [Elizabeth's  brother],  but  re- 
vived in  him^  And  no  heart  but  would  have  been  ravished 
to  have  seen  the  demeanour  of  that  great  lady  at  her  de- 
parture with  tears  trickling  down  her  cheeks,  so  mild,  so 
courteous  and  affable — yet  with  a  princely  reservation  of 
state  well  becoming  so  great  a  majesty — like  another  Queen 
Elizabeth  revived  also  again  in  her  the  only  Phoenix  of  the 
world.  Gone  is  this  sweet  Princess  with  her  now  more 
than  princely  husband  towards  the  place  where  his  army 
attendeth,  showing  herself  like  that  Virago  of  Tilbury — 
another  Queen  Elizabeth,  for  so  she  now  is,  and  what  more 
she  may  be  in  time,  or  her  royal  issue,  is  in  God's  hand  for 
the  good  and  glory  of  his  church  !  Such  a  lady  going  be- 
fore, and  marching  in  the  front,  who  would  not  adventure 
life  and  covet  death?'' 


102 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


A  century  and  a  half  later  the  Margravine  of  Baireuth, 
Elizabeth's  witty  great-granddaughter,  records  so  many 
oversets  when  travelling  In  high  Germany,  that  wonder  It 
is  to  find  her  going  with  her  carriage  the  right  side  upper- 
most. But  Germany  and  German  roads  were  not  quite  so 
miserable  before  the  Thirty  Years'  War  as  they  were  In  the 
last  century.  One  disaster  befell  on  the  way,  which  was 
from  a  stone  striking  Elizabeth's  ankle  as  her  coach  whirled 
rapidly  down  a  hill  near  Anspach,  causing  such  pain  that 
she  swooned ;  but  recovering,  she  speedily  resumed  her 
journey.-^ 

The  course  of  the  progress  towards  Prague  was  through 
the  Margravlates  of  Jloravia  and  Lusatla,  and  the  Duke- 
dom of  that  Silesia  afterwards  so  fiercely  contested  between 
the  descendant  of  Elizabeth,  Frederic  the  Great,  and  the 
Empress  Maria  Theresa.  These  little  states  likewise  exer- 
cised some  elective  franchise  pertaining  to  earlier  and  freer 
times,  and,  taking  shelter  from  the  persecuting  Imperial 
eagle  under  the  shield  of  Bohemia,  elected  Frederic  their 
sovereign. 

The  whole  family  crossed  the  Bohemian  frontier  October 
27,  new  style.^  They  were  received  at  Falkenau,  a  domain 
hereditary  in  the  family  of  Count  Andreas  Schlick,  a  lead- 
ing politician  In  Bohemia,  whose  line  and  name  are  not 
out  of  date  In  the  present  day,  although  now  the  strongest 
bulwark  of  the  present  imperial  dynasty  of  Austria.  At 
Falkenau  Count  Schlick  entertained  his  newly-elected  King 
and  Queen  with  a  fine  collation  In  the  open  alr,^  and  by  way 
of  dessert  his  preacher  regaled  them  with  a  long  open-air 
sermon,  which,  as  It  was  a  political  one,  was  perad venture 
not  so  wearisome  to  them  as  might  be  expected.  The  last 
day  of  October  was  appointed  for  the  solemn  entry  into  the 
Bohemian  capital ;  and  the  Intermediate  days  they  advanced, 
tarrying  at  the  castles  of  their  partisans,  until  they  rested 
in  view  of  the  beautiful  Thiergarten  or  Pare  d'Etoile,  form- 
ing the  approach  to  the  romantic  city  of  Prague,  which  was 


^  Letter  of  an  English  visitor — Tracts  on  German  History,  1620. 
2  Theatre  de  TEurope.  ^  Merc.  Frauc. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


103 


then  marslialling  Its  thousands  to  greet  the  sovereigns  of 
the  national  choice. 

Elizabeth  took  her  place  in  the  procession  on  the  morrow, 
seated  in  a  chariot  or  moving  throne,  having  a  canopy  of 
violet  velvet  adorned  with  gold  lace  and  tissue.  Her  ivory 
fair  complexion  never  showed  clearer  than  that  day,  and 
her  delicate  beauty  was  wondered  at  by  the  brown  popula- 
tion pouring  from  the  city  into  the  wide  avenues  of  the 
Bohemian  Hyde  Park  to  gaze  on  her  and  greet  her. 
Frederic,  who  had  been  by  her  side  until  close  to  the  walls 
of  Prague,  alighted  from  the  car,  and  mounted  his  war- 
steed  on  the  approach  of  a  barbaric  troop  which  rushed  out 
of  the  antique  gateway  of  the  StrathofF — a  fortress  so  sacred 
to  liberty  that  no  king  can  pass  it  without  direct  invitation 
from  the  citizens  of  Prague  ;^  and  this  gracious  permission 
to  their  sovereign-elect  was  borne  by  the  strange  band,  the 
appearance  of  which  first  excited  astonishment  and  then 
irrepressible  mirth  from  the  young  English  Queen  and  her 
attendants.  Dangerous  mirth !  for  it  was  a  band  of 
Taborites  armed  in  the  same  costume  as  when  they  sur- 
rounded the  chariot  of  their  terrific  warrior  -  prophet, 
Zisca.  Their  body  armour  and  clothing  resembled 
the  buff-coats,  belts,  and  breastplates  of  the  roundhead 
troopers ;  as  to  arms,  some  carried  sickles  and  some  flails 
as  weapons  of  Avar,  which  they  whirled  about  their  heads 
with  frightful  agility.  Then  they  bore  on  their  standards, 
and  carried  hung  to  their  belts,  queer  things  which  Eliza- 
beth's attendants,  from  whose  letters  home  this  account  is 
given,  called  pewter  cups  and  flagons,  pots  and  pans. 
Ever  and  anon,  with  sharp  yells  as  a  slogan,  the  Taborites 
clashed  these  utensils  together  in  a  sort  of  wild  cadence 
like  the  Turkish  cymbals.  But  the  pots  and  pans,  flagons 
and  platters,  were  not  really  pewter,  but  made  of  beech- 
wood,  and  proved  to  be  the  celebrated  mazers  or  wooden 
vessels  for  the  sacrament  so  famous  in  the  Zisca  insurrection, 
and  in  the  controversies  of  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of 
Prague.  The  Taborites,  who  professed  to  be  the  disciples 
of  these  reformers  in  their  own  wild  way,  were  infuriated 

1  Atlas  Geographique. 


104 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


at  the  denial  of  the  cup  to  the  laity  by  the  Eoman  Catholics 
at  the  sacrament ;  likewise  by  the  luxury  of  gold  and  silver 
chalices.  To  testify  their  abhorrence,  these  fierce  reformers 
carried  their  wooden  communion-vessels,  out  of  which  they 
took  the  sacrament  every  day,  hung  at  their  belts  and 
clattering  on  their  standards,  clashing  them  ever  and  anon 
as  good  cause  of  quarrel;  thus  drawing  from  them,  withal, 
their  military  music.  Such  was  one  specimen  of  the  numer- 
ous sects  of  Eastern  Europe,  and  the  subjects  over  whom 
Frederic  and  Elizabeth  had  attained  the  felicity  of  governing. 

The  Taborites  forming  in  some  sort  of  order  before  the 
Strathoff  Gate,  their  leader  addressed  a  short  martial  speech 
to  the  King-elect  in  the  native  Bohemian  dialect,  which  the 
band  finished  off  by  an  especial  flourish  on  their  pots  and 
pans.'  Elizabeth  and  her  attendants  echoed  it  by  a  fit  of 
laughter,  in  which  the  grave  Frederic  almost  joined.  How- 
ever, he  hastened  to  answer  them  in  the  Bohemian  tongue 
— which  he  spoke  perfectly — and  by  Elizabeth's  request 
told  them  how  much  she  regretted  being  ignorant  of  their 
language,  which  she  would  forthwith  set  about  learning.^' 

Surrounded  by  this  fierce  band,  the  King  and  Queen 
entered  that  Prague  whose  name  has  been  identified  v/ith 
so  many  conflicts.  It  is  a  beautiful  and  curious  place  even 
now,  when  at  least  three  sieges  and  two  battles  have  come 
off*  every  century  since  the  arrival  of  Elizabeth  Stuart,  and 
somewhat  dimmed  its  picturesque  magnificence.  The  old 
town,  or  Prague  proper,  is  built  on  terraces  rising  up  the 
mountainous  banks  of  the  river  Moldau,  which  is  here 
broad,  deep,  and  rapid,  a  few  miles  above  its  junction 
with  the  mighty  Elbe.  Old  Prague  was  joined  to  the  new 
town,  then  comparatively  small,  by  a  remarkable  bridge 
built  by  Queen  Judith,  the  consort  of  King  Wenceslaus. 
It  is  an  avenue  of  statues  representing  saints,  warriors,  and 
other  Bohemian  worthies.^  By  the  river's  bank,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Welsseberg  or  White  Mountain,  stands  the  Edissa, 
the  old  palace  of  Prague,^  a  structure  so  antique  that  its 
loundatlon  is  beyond  the  memory  of  tradition.    No  anti- 


Atlas  Geographique — Bohemia. 


2  Ibid. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


105 


quarian  is  able  to  class  its  massive  and  grotesque  architec- 
ture. The  Edissa  is  ball-proof,  cannon-proof,  shell-proof, 
and  bomb-proof,  having  been  experimented  upon  in  good 
earnest  from  time  to  time  by  almost  every  destructive 
engine  the  malice  of  man  has  contrived.  Of  course  its 
gigantic  halls  and  corridors  have  the  reputation  of  being 
fearfully  haunted ;  but  its  very  spectres  are  like  its  archi- 
tecture—  too  ancient  to  be  defined.  To  this  singular 
royal  residence  Elizabeth  bent  her  devious  way,  testifying 
the  utmost  astonishment  at  the  customs  of  the  people ; 
particularly  when  she  saw  the  women  fall  prostrate  on  each 
side  of  her  car  —  this  she  declared  completed  the  Oriental 
semblance  that  everything  took  about  her.^  There  was  a 
Queen's  palace  in  Prague,  but  Elizabeth  preferred  inhabit- 
ing the  grim  old  Edissa  with  her  husband.  Before  Frederic 
took  possession  of  it  he  went  to  return  thanks  at  the  Cathe- 
dral of  St  Veit,  or  Holy  Faith,  a  structure  so  old  as  to  have 
been  erected  by  Sclavonic  pagans,  and  thus  named  by  the 
Christians  when  they  took  possession  of  it,  and  all  the  heathen 
idols  were  trundled  into  the  Moldau.^  Elizabeth  declared  that 
it  was  in  great  need  of  a  similar  purification — being  crowded 
with  more  statues  of  saints  than  she  had  ever  seen  together 
in  her  life.  Her  husband  and  his  minister,  Scultetus,  liked 
them  still  less,  although  the  latter  had  the  wisdom  to  preach 
the  most  tolerant  sermon  ever  heard  from  him  ;  yet  the  zeal 
of  his  master  broke  out  before  he  left  the  church.  The 
Bohemians,  who  had  great  value  for  their  saints,  heard  with 
dismay  their  new  King  declare  he  would  demolish  them  the 
first  opportunity.  Unfortunately,  neither  Frederic  nor  Eliza- 
beth had  arrived  at  those  years  when  thought  usually  pre- 
cedes speech;  for  she,  in  her  first  examination  of  the  beauties 
of  her  new  capital,  taking  great  offence  at  the  avenue  of 
statues  on  the  bridge,  vowed  they  should  all  be  demolished 
before  she  crossed  to  the  new  town  again — a  speech  remem- 
bered afterwards. 

Meantime  the  Taborites,  the  Hussites,  and  Frederic's  fa- 
natic chaplain,  Scultetus,  fraternised  to  admiration ;  and  as 


1  Spanheim. 


*  Atlas  Geographique — Bohemia. 


106 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


the  latter  had  an  extreme  antipathy  to  the  unction  in  the 
approaching  coronation,  he  permitted  John  Cyril,  the  elder 
of  the  Hussites,  to  perform  the  ceremony  for  his  master. 
Frederic  was  crowned  King  of  Bohemia,  November  3,  by 
this  elder,  who  was  clad  in  a  long  blue  gown,  and  wore  an 
enormous  blue  hat.  Nothing  else  differed  from  the  coron- 
ation of  our  ancient  kings,  save  that  the  Queen  w^as  not 
crowned  excepting  by  the  grace  and  favour  of  her  Mon- 
arch. Three  days  afterwards  the  coronation  of  the  Queen 
took  place.  Eoyally  robed,  she  was  led  to  her  place  in  the 
chapel  of  St  AVenceslaus,  by  Frederic  himself ;  after  some 
benedictions  over  her  by  the  blue-robed  administrator,  the 
King  demanded  consecration,  and  the  crown  of  St  Eliza- 
beth^ for  her  namesake,  his  w^ife,''  saying  in  Latin  :  "  Reve- 
rend administrator,  I  beseech  thee  to  bestow  with  thy  bene- 
diction the  crown  on  my  beloved  and  deserving  consort,  whom 
God  hath  given  to  be  my  helpmate/' 

The  crown  of  St  Elizabeth,  as  it  appears  in  one  of  her 
portraits,  is  small,  of  an  antique  form,  and  worn  on  the  top 
of  the  head.  The  fashion  is  probably  derived  from  the  re- 
galia of  the  Greek  empresses,  for  the  Russian  czarina  wears 
her  diadem  in  the  same  manner.  Directly  the  ceremony 
concluded,  Elizabeth  was  shown  to  the  populace,  and  the 
whole  city  of  Prague  echoed  with  ^'  Vivat,  vivat  Isabella  !  " 
for  so  her  name  was  rendered  by  the  tongues  of  her  new 
subjects.  The  young  son  of  the  royal  pair  was  in  the  course 
of  these  ceremonies  declared  by  the  council  of  Frederic 
the  hereditary  successor  to  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia — an 
imprudent  encroachment,  for  which  the  Emperor  Ferdinand 
II.  had  been  dethroned. 

Directly  his  wife's  coronation  was  completed,  Frederic 
departed  for  his  city  of  Amberg,  on  pretence  of  presiding  at 
the  baptism  of  the  Prince  of  Anhalt/s  infant,  but  in  reality 
to  muster  and  combine  the  powers  of  the  Calvinist  League. 
The  Prince  of  Anhalt  was  to  be  the  general  of  their  com- 
bined military  forces.    But  the  very  letter  Frederic  wrote 

1  Theatre  de  I'Europe.  The  Scottish  Queen-consorts  were  crowned  on 
the  same  principle. 

^  Theatre  de  Monde  says  St  Isabella,  but  the  names  are  synonymous. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


107 


to  Elizabeth  announcing  his  arrival  at  his  capital  of  the 
higher  Palatinate,  proves  how  ill  chosen  this  bon-vivant  was 
for  such  responsibility. 

To  THE  Queen  of  Bohemia. 

Madame, — This  is  to  tell  you  my  safe  arrival  here.  The  Prince  of  An- 
halt  tarries,  being  detained  with  gout  in  both  feet.  I  do  not  think  that 
he  will  get  to  Nuremburg,  where  I  hope  to  be  to-morrow,  without  great  pain. 
The  Landgrave  Maurice,  the  Margrave  of  Anspach,  and  the  Duke  of  Wur- 
temberg,  are  there  already.  The  baptism  takes  place  in  an  hour  or  two. 
I  have  not  yet  seen  the  Princess  of  Anhalt. 

*'  I  entreat  you  to  send  me  by  a  man  express  [en  poste],  well  packed  in  a 
tin  or  wooden  box,  the  bond  given  me  by  the  States  [of  Holland],  for  the 
money  I  lent  them,  with  some  writings  appended.  I  do  not  know  if  you 
can  find  it.  It  seems  to  me  that  I  put  it  in  the  gold  box  with  the  bond  that 
the  States  gave  to  the  little  one,  which  is  near  the  vaisselle  d'or.  Retain 
the  gold  box,  and  likewise  the  bond  pertaining  to  the  child. 

Yesterday  I  had  letters  from  Madame  my  mother,  who  humbly  kisses 
your  hands.  I  send  you  with  this  a  letter  from  my  sister,  the  Margrav- 
ine [of  Brandenburg].  I  shall  hasten  my  return  as  much  as  possible.  I 
finish  at  present,  as  I  write  you  more  amply  from  Nuremberg  ;  but  am  ever, 
my  dear  only  heart,  your  faithful  friend  and  very  affectionate  servitor, 

"  D'Amberg,  this  8  November,  1619.  "  Fkederic. 

"  Pray  remember  me  to  my  brother,  and  kiss  my  little  one  for  me." 

The  new  Queen  was  at  this  time  chiefly  occupied  with 
receiving  addresses  of  congratulation  and  presents  from  all 
classes  of  her  subjects.  Her  people,  the  lower  order  of  the 
Bohemian  women,  came  with  their  address  and  offering 
on  the  day  of  their  darling  royal  saint,  Isabella.  Their  ad- 
dress was  spoken  in  Bohemian.  Elizabeth  graciously  replied 
by  the  Hps  of  her  mehmander.  Baron  Kupa,  "  that  she  hoped 
ere  long  their  language  would  not  be  a  dead  letter  to  her.'' 
So  far  so  well ;  but  the  present  brought  by  these  good 
dames  of  the  Halle  aroused  the  derision  of  the  lawless,  and 
perhaps  rapacious,  attendants  of  the  Queen.  The  simple 
folk  had,  according  to  their  customs,  presented  sacks  full  of 
their  national  cakes  and  confectlonaries,  likewise  loaves  of 
bread,  very  likely  the  stipulated  tribute  from  lands  held  of 
the  Crown.  The  loaves  must  have  been  made,  as  we  often 
have  seen  them  in  France,  in  large  rings,  for  Elizabeth's 
saucy  English  pages  seized  them  and  put  them  on  their 
hats,  and  danced  about  the  hall  before  the  Queen,  who 


108 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


might  have  remembered  the  lesson  given  her  by  her  friend 
Schomberg  on  her  own  deficient  governing  powers,  which 
permitted  such  liberties  to  be  taken  in  her  presence.  The 
language  of  derision  is  ever  understood,  however  that  of 
differing  speech  may  be  unintelligible.  The  harmless  coun- 
try folk  withdrew,  grieving  and  abashed.  Elizabeth's  offi- 
cials preferred  deputies  who  brought  up  long  purses  full  of 
ducats,  out  of  which  they  might  hope  for  fees.  The  ladies  of 
Prague  who  brought  a  cradle  of  carved  ivory,  embossed 
with  gold,  silver,  and  gems,  were  better  welcomed.  This 
was  for  the  use  of  Elizabeth's  infant,  whose  birth  was 
now  daily  expected.  The  famous  Prince  Rupert,  fourth 
child  of  Elizabeth  and  Frederic,  was  born  November  28, 
1619,  in  the  ancient  tower  of  the  Strathoff,  a  few  days  after 
the  presentation  of  the  magnificent  cradle.^  His  mother  had 
to  give  free  access  to  tlie  whole  female  population  of  Prague, 
or  at  least  as  many  as  could  crowd  near  her.  The  noble 
size  of  the  infant,  his  liveliness  and  vigour,  made  the  Bohe- 
mian populace  loudly  regret  that  he  was  not  to  be  their 
future  King.  He  was  given  the  name  of  Rupert,  after  that 
mighty  Elector  Palatine  who  built  Heidelberg,  and  deposed 
Wenceslaus,  the  Bohemian  king,  from  being  Emperor;  ^  not 
Wenceslaus  the  Saint,  but  Wenceslaus  the  Sinner.  The 
grand  festivals  at  this  baptism  excited  the  spleen  of  the 
Austrian  enemy,  who  derided  Frederic  and  Elizabeth  as  the 
Winter  King  and  Queen,  and  promised  them  such  royalty 
as  the  monarchs  of  the  Bean  belonging  to  the  Continental 
twelfth  cake,  and  no  longer  enduring  than  theirs,  and  that 
their  state  would  melt  away  with  the  snow. 

The  baptism  of  the  infant  Rupert  was  made  a  great 
political  gathering ;  the  newly  elected  King  of  Hungary  ^ 

*  Spanheim.  ^  Atlas  Geog. — Hist.  Bohemia  and  German  Empire. 

^  Bethlem  Gabor,  which  means  Gabriel  Bethlem.  Hungary  had  cast 
herself  free  from  the  house  of  Austria,  and  elected  a  magnate  from 
her  own  dominions,  as  her  king  :  of  course  he  formed  a  close  alliance 
with  Bohemia,  ratified  by  his  deputies  at  this  baptism.  Bethlem  Gabor  is 
railed  at  by  all  parties  as  a  low  adventurer,  but  he  was  of  rank  quite  high 
enough  to  be  eligible  to  the  Hungarian  election.  His  family  are  great 
people  in  Transylvania  to  this  day.  He  claimed,  too,  to  be  classed  as  some 
species  of  Protestant  dissenter,  but  it  is  to  be  feared  that  he  was  nearer  to 
the  creed  of  Mahomet. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


109 


was  invited  as  principal  godfather.  This  sponsor,  instead 
of  bidding — 

"  The  pagan  fiends  avaunt, 
Mahomet  and  Termagaunt," 

on  behalf  of  his  godchild,  was  himself,  if  he  had  any  belief, 
inclined  to  Moslemism,  and  brought  Frederic  into  the  ever- 
luckless  alliance  with  the  Turks.  And  as  that  people,  when- 
ever they  broke  over  the  Christian  border  in  Europe,  com- 
ported themselves  towards  the  wretched  population  like  the 
Mohammedans  in  India,  and  the  Mohammedans  throughout 
all  history,  Frederic  raised  common  humanity  against  himself 
when  he  leagued  with  them. 

A  revolt  in  Prague  was  the  first  indication  of  the  coming 
storm.  The  Lutherans  as  well  as  the  Roman  Catholics  of 
Bohemia,  who  had  united  in  electing  Frederic,  were  infuri- 
ated at  the  war  of  extermination  which  the  King  and  his 
minister,  Abraham  Scultetus,  had  declared  against  all  the 
statues  in  the  cathedral.  But  when  the  image-breakers 
proceeded  to  the  bridge  over  the  Moldau,  and  began  to  de- 
stroy the  effigies  of  St  John  Nepomucene,  St  Wenceslaus, 
and  St  Elizabeth,  and  tumbled  them  into  the  Moldau,  all 
Prague  rose  to  the  rescue.  Even  the  Taborites  clattered  oflf 
a  call  to  arms  on  their  cups  and  platters,  and  mustered  in 
fierce  wrath.  Count  Schlick  rushed  into  the  royal  presence, 
crying  out  to  Frederic  and  Elizabeth, that  if  the  order  for 
pulling  down  the  bridge  statues  was  not  recalled,  Bohemia 
was  lost  ! ^  This  was  done  instantly,  and  orders  given  for 
the  damage  to  be  repaired,  whereby  Abraham  Scultetus 
was  infuriated.  It  was  sad  want  of  good  sense  and  firm- 
ness to  begin  such  a  measure,  and  not  dare  to  carry  it 
through.  The  people  of  Prague  forthwith  subsided  into 
their  accustomed  bounds,  yet  they  did  so  sullenly,  and  never 
forgot  the  attempt.  Then  Abraham  Scultetus  broke  out, 
and  raging  against  his  fellow-Protestants,  the  Lutherans, 
invoked  fire  and  fury  upon  them  as  latitudinarians,  hurl- 
ing on  them  long  sermons  full  of  wrath.  As  he  had  been  one 
of  the  leading  spirits  of  the  intolerant  Synod  of  Dort,  where 

1  Atlas  Geographique,  1689,  contains  a  minute  and  curious  History  of 
Boliemia. 


110 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


various  Dutcli  sectarians,  who  did  not  exactly  adopt  his  no- 
tions, had  been  persecuted  with  exile,  confiscation,  and  death, 
the  citizens  of  Prague  began  to  be  alarmed.  "  Mercy  be 
upon  us,''  wrote  the  Elector  of  Saxony's  chaplain,  in  what 
respect  are  these  Evangelists  better  than  the  Papists?  Even 
more  intolerant  shall  we  find  the  turbulent  spirit  of  Calvin! 
What  avails  it  being  freed  from  the  Antichrist  of  the  West, 
if  his  rival  usurps  over  us  ?''"^  Such  were  the  difficulties 
preparing  for  these  young  sovereigns,  neither  of  whom  had 
seen  their  twenty-third  birthday.  Elizabeth  made  it  matter 
of  expediency  to  receive  the  sacrament,  according  to  her 
husband's  persuasion,  in  the  Cathedral  at  Prague,  where  a 
long  dinner-board,  covered  with  a  white  table-cloth,  at 
which  the  recipients  were  seated,  was  used  instead  of  the 
broken  high  altar.^  It  was  not  very  likely  that  any  Church 
of  England  person  would  have  approved  of  it.  But  Eliza- 
beth complied,  "  because,"  as  she  wrote  to  her  father  apolo- 
getically, "  it  had  been  reported  through  Bohemia  that  she 
was  a  Lutheran,  and  she  entreated  permission  to  continue 
the  same." 

The  popularity  of  both  the  King  and  Queen  was  evidently 
on  the  wane.  As  it  was  objected  that  the  Queen  was  al- 
ways surrounded  by  her  Enghsh  or  German  attendants, 
who  scorned  the  native  Bohemians,  she  resolved  that  on 
the  next  public  day  her  new  subjects  only  should  serve  her 
at  table.  Scultetus  chose  her  servitors  from  among  his 
friends  the  Taborites ;  their  awkwardness,  however,  pro- 
voked the  mirth  of  the  whole  Court.  The  Taborite  cup- 
bearer spilt  all  the  wine  from  her  goblet  on  her  velvet 
robe.  The  sewer  let  the  mighty  haunch  slide  to  the  ground, 
and  placed  the  empty  dish  upon  the  table  before  the  Queen. 
Worse  than  all,  a  grim  warrior,  who  stood  near  the  chair 
of  state  holding  a  silver  bowl  full  of  lumps  of  sugar,  became 
fascinated  with  terror  at  the  sight  of  the  Queen's  monkey, 
a  species  of  animal  he  had  never  before  beheld,  and  now 
took  for  something  peculiarly  unholy.  But  when  the 
monkey,  perpetrating  a  grimace  of  defiance,  skipped  up  on 
the  arm  of  Elizabeth's  chair,  and,  extending  its  paw,  helped 

*  Tracts  by  Moser.  ^  State-Paper  MS. 


ELIZABETH  STUART.  Ill 

itself  to  a  lump  of  sugar,  the  Taborite  threw  down  the 
bowl,  and,  uttering  a  loud  yell,  escaped  from  the  royal 
presence.^ 

The  praises  of  Elizabeth's  beauty  ,  on  which  most  of  her 
contemporaries  dwell,  are  fully  confirmed  by  her  fine  por- 
trait at  Hampton  Court — the  work  of  her  favourite  artist 
and  faithful  follower  Honthorst.  The  complexion  and 
features  depicted  precisely  agree  with  a  remarkable  descrip- 
tion of  her  person  still  extant,  from  the  clever  pen  of  her 
granddaughter,  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  Duchess  of  Orleans. 
There  is  something  exceedingly  characteristic  of  that  origi- 
nal, in  the  way  in  which  this  valuable  sketch  of  long-forgotten 
beauty  was  elicited.  A  daughter  of  Elizabeth's  son,  Charles 
Louis,  the  issue  of  his  irregular  marriage  with  Louise 
Degenfelt,  had  ventured  to  declare  herself  the  exact  re- 
semblance of  her  grandmother,  Elizabeth  Stuart,  Queen  of 
Bohemia,  a  piece  of  presumption  which  drew  on  her  the 
following  sketch'  of  her  own  person,  and  that  of  the  royal 
beauty  in  contrast :  "  I  remember  our  grandmother,  the 
Queen  of  Bohemia,  as  well  as  if  it  were  to  day,''  writes 
Elizabeth  Charlotte,  Duchess  of  Orleans,^  to  her  half-sister ; 

she  had  a  quite  different  expression  from  you  ;  likewise 
your  hair  is  sandy,  with  a  broad  face  and  a  high  colour. 
But  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  had  fine  black  hair,  her  face  a 
long  oval,  a  high  slender  nose,  and  in  one  word,  quite  an- 
other cast  of  person.  The  Elector  Palatine,  further,  bore  a 
great  likeness  to  his  mother." 

The  occasion  of  Elizabeth's  sitting  for  the  Hampton  Court 
portrait  was  vexatious.  It  was  to  be  sent  as  a  reminder  to 
her  father;  yet,  as  he  denied  her  husband  regality,  she 
dared  not  assume  in  the  picture  the  antique  crown  of  Bo- 
hemia she  had  even  then  begun  to  guess  that  she  had  too 
dearly  bought.  Her  head-dress  consists  of  a  constellation 
of  pear-pearl  pins  stuck  upright  in  a  high  head  of  hair,  like 
pins  in  a  toilet  pin-cushion  ;  a  few  diamond  sprays  are  at 
the  back  of  the  hair.    The  ruff  is  point-lace  vandyked,  not 

^  German  Tract,  by  Moser.    (See  Vignette  prefixed  to  this  volume.) 
2  Letters  of  Elizabeth  Charlotte  lately  published  in  Germany^  addressed 
to  her  half-sisters. 


112 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


very  large,  and  moreover,  under  the  chin,  it  shows  her 
bosom  beneath.  Four  rows  of  rich  pearls  encircle  the  round 
corsage  of  her  dress,  and  hang  in  loops  about  her  jewelled 
ouche,  which  represents  a  royal  arched  crown,  with  a  mass 
of  coloured  gems  beneath.  The  dress  is  dark-figured  vel- 
vet ;  it  is  very  short-waisted,  round  and  full,  bordered  with 
pearls  and  gems;  the  sleeves  very  full  and  stiff,  slashes  of 
beads  trimmed  with  gems,  and  terminating  in  vandyked  mau- 
chettes  ;  lace  cuffs  high  up  the  arm,  of  three  rows,  the  nar- 
rowest lace  next  the  wrist.  Her  hands  are  very  long  and 
white,  and  are  hung  out  rather  ostentatiously  for  admiration. 
Large  pearls  strung  in  chains  fill  up  the  space  between  the 
hands  and  the  wrists.  Her  royal  mantle  is  of  black  velvet, 
lined  with  fire  colour,  and  bordered  with  rich  gems ;  this 
is  the  imperial  fashion.  Elizabeth  is  standing  beneath 
the  scarlet-velvet  drapery  of  her  canopy ;  one  of  her  hands 
rests  on  a  table  covered  with  scarlet,  fringed  with  gold;  her 
attitude  is  haughty ;  she  is  apparently  giving  receptions. 
Her  eyes  are  brown,  her  complexion  the  ivory  fairness 
sometimes  accompanying  dark  eyes  and  dark  hair.  Her 
forehead,  eyes,  and  brows,  bear  strong  resemblance  to  her 
beautiful  grandmother  Mary  Stuart,  but  the  drooping  mouth 
expresses  fretfulness,  induced  doubtless  by  care  and  anxiety. 

King  Frederic  made  a  progress  through  Moravia  and 
Silesia  accompanied  by  Scultetus,  who,  being  a  Silesian 
by  birth,  outdid  all  his  former  doings,  prophesying  and 
astrologising  at  every  preaching,  and  outraging  every 
other  Protestant  sect  wheresoever  he  led  his  master.  Had 
Frederic  and  his  tutor  undertaken  a  mission  of  enemy- 
making,  their  success  would  have  been  complete.  The 
consequence  was,  that  a  general  defection  took  place 
among  the  Protestant  Princes  who  had  engaged  to  support 
the  King  and  Queen  of  Bohemia.  When  Frederic  took 
the  field  in  the  summer  of  1620,  he  found  no  one  to 
espouse  his  cause  excepting  those  who  could  agree  with 
Scultetus,  which,  truth  to  tell,  *were  but  few.  Spinola,  an 
experienced  general  commanding  a  small  fierce  army  of  re- 
gular Spanish  troops,  seized  on  the  Lower  Palatinate,  and 
threatened  Heidelberg,  from  whence  the  Electress  Juliana 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


113 


wrote  a  piteous  letter  to  James  I.,  entreating  him  to  succour 
his  two  grandchildren  she  had  there  under  her  guardianship. 
Elizabeth  likewise  wrote  in  despair  to  her  brother  Charles, 
Prince  of  Wales,  reminding  him  that  their  father  had  pro- 
mised to  exert  himself  if  the  original  patrimony  of  her  hus- 
band should  be  invaded.  Charles,  who  was  tenderly  alive 
to  her  troubles,  could  do  nothing  with  their  father,  but  he 
sent  her  all  his  savings,  one  remittance  of  which  amounted 
to  £2000  ^ — a  very  small  assistance  to  a  Queen  whose 
ideas  of  expenditure  were  so  enormous  that  she  had  given 
away  more  than  that  sum  in  presents  at  the  baptism  of  her 
little  Rupert,  and  often  regretted  that  she  could  not  visit  her 
father,  because  her  expenses  in  progress  would  cost  at  least 
£100,000.^  x^bout  the  same  period,  Francis  Nethersole  was 
appointed  her  secretary  by  her  father,  who  paid  his  salary. 
Great  bales  of  his  despatches  exist  in  our  archives,  but  Nether- 
sole  is  so  complete  a  dullard  that  little  is  to  be  gleaned  from 
them;  neither  is  this  worthy  remarkable  for  valour,  for  his  first 
idea  on  arriving  at  Prague  was  the  necessity  of  retreat  for 
Elizabeth  and  all  her  household.^  King  Frederic  was  in  the 
field  doing  the  best  his  military  inexperience  would  permit 
to  keep  his  Roman  Catholic  cousin  and  great  enemy,  Maxi- 
milian, Duke  of  Bavaria,  from  seizing  Prague.  His  hopes 
and  fears  were  thus  written  to  his  Elizabeth  ;  his  letter  is 
manly,  and  shows  not  the  least  shade  of  apprehension.  He 
had  planned  a  night  attack  on  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  called 
the  Surprise  of  Rakonitz.  But  he  wandered  with  his  forces 
a  whole  night,  and  the  only  surprise  was,  when  he  found 
the  enemy  gone  some  miles  nearer  Prague  in  the  morning. 
After  telling  his  war  news,  he  thus  alludes  to  some  intelli- 
gence his  wife  had  sent  him  from  Prague  : — 

"  I  believe  that  the  Margrave  must  be  greatly  afflicted  at  the  death  of  his 
girl ;  but  it  is  surely  a  great  absurdity  to  attire  a  corpse  in  full  dress.  As 
for  me,  I  should  wish  for  nothing  better  than  a  shroud.  I  hope,  however, 
that  God  will  preserve  us  to  be  a  long  time  together.  For  God's  sake  have 
a  care  of  your  health,  if  not  for  love  of  yourself,  at  least  for  love  of  me  and 


1  State-Paper  MS.  Ibid. 
^  Nethersole's  Despatch,  September  4,  1620. 
VOL.  VIII.  H 


lU 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


your  dear  children,  and  for  that  dear  little  creature.  Give  not  way  to 
melancholy.  Much  I  wish  to  be  near  you ;  but  my  vocation  carries  me 
here.    I  hope  you  think  not  that  I  love  you  the  less  for  that."  ^ 

King  James  had  sent  to  Prague,  besides  Nethersole,  se- 
veral other  envoys  to  treat  about  peace  ;  and  Elizabeth 
wanted  to  know  who  was  to  be  at  the  expense  of  their  en- 
tertainment, which  Frederic  declares  he  cannot  afford  ;  but 
he  advises  her  to  invite  them  every  day  to  dine  at  her  table. 

Frederic's  next  letter  to  his  "  dear  only  Heart/'  is  dated 
from  Rakonitz,  where  he  had  occupied  the  ground  vacated 
by  the  Bavarian  enemy.  He  praises  his  wife  for  the  noble 
spirit  of  her  letters,  but  prepares  her  for  the  necessity  of 
withdrawing  from  Prague,  for  which  the  foe  was  in  full 
march.  He  recommends  retreat  before  it  might  appear  like 
flight.  He  assures  her  he  had  tried  to  force  a  battle,  but 
Ills  enemies  were  coy.  He  dates  November  1,  and  sends 
her  an  intercepted  letter  from  Duke  Max  of  Bavaria,  who 
promises  his  wife  the  spoils  of  Prague.  Elizabeth  would 
not,  or  could  not,  remove ;  but  she  sent  off  her  eldest  son 
to  the  Lower  Rhine,  escorted  by  his  father's  brother,  Duke 
of  Simmeren,  who  was  a  very  young  man, 

Frederic,  with  better  generalship  than  could  be  expected 
from  his  inexperience,  by  forced  marches  interposed  between 
Duke  Max  and  Prague,  and  occupied  the  Pare  d'Etoile,  to 
guard  all  he  loved  with  his  utmost  energy.  And  there  is 
no  doubt,  had  he  been  entirely  self-reliant,  he  would  have 
done  so  successfully;  but  eager  to  be  in  the  company  of 
Elizabeth,  he  resigned  his  command  to  the  Prince  of  Anhalt, 
as  the  more  regular  and  experienced  general,  taking  upon 
himself  only  the  leading  of  the  reserve.  This  was  on  Satur- 
day, November  19.  The  next  morning,  while  all  Prague 
was  kneeling  in  the  cathedral,  the  booming  of  the  Bavarian 
cannon  was  heard  over  the  Weisseberg  or  White  Mountain, 
and  the  troops  were  seen  descending  on  the  city  through  a 
thick  November  fog.  All  the  Pragueites  rushed  out  of 
church.  Frederic  declared  it  would  be  but  skirmishing; 
nevertheless  he  mounted  his  horse,  and  rode  to  the  Pare 

1  Bromley  Letters,  Oct.  22,  1620. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


115 


d'Etoile,  where  his  general  was  intrenched.  Prince  Anhalt 
received  him  with  news  of  a  glorious  victory  gained  by  his 
son,  Prince  Christian  of  Anhalt,  young  Count  Bernard 
Thurm,  and  other  dashing  cavaliers,  who  had  repulsed  the  in- 
vaders. Thus  reassured.  King  Frederic  ascended  the  StrathofF 
Gate  Tower,  and  continued  anxiously  to  reconnoitre  the  en- 
virons. In  a  short  time  Prince  Anhalt  and  his  staflf  of  officers 
came  thundering  at  the  gate,  and  w^hen  admitted  to  its 
guarded  precincts,  declared  that  the  Bavarians  had  forced 
his  camp,  were  masters  of  the  environs,  and  would  soon  be 
in  Prague.  The  King  hastened  to  provide  for  the  safety 
of  his  dear  wife,  whom  he  had  some  trouble  to  persuade  to 
fly.  While  lifting  her  to  a  carriage  he  had  provided  for 
her  retreat,  he  was  heard  to  say  with  a  deep  sigh — Now 
I  know  what  I  am  !  We  princes  seldom  hear  the  truth  till 
we  are  taught  it  by  adversity.'' i  He  might,  in  the  massive 
walls  of  the  old  palace,  have  long  resisted  the  undisciplined 
Ban  of  his  Bavarian  cousin ;  but  it  was  plain  to  be  seen  that 
the  Pragueites  were  worse  than  indifferent  to  his  cause, 
they  were  inimical,  as  might  be  told  by  the  excitement  they 
showed  when  Scultetus  read  that  day  from  Scripture — 
Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Csesar's,'' — 
at  which  moment  the  Bavarian  cannon  interrupted  the  Pro- 
testant service.  Scarcely  was  the  exultation  of  the  citizens 
restrained  when  they  saw  their  lately  crowned  King  and 
Queen  bend  their  flight  over  the  Moldau,  crossing  it  by  that 
bridge  she  had  vowed  not  to  cross  until  the  ancient  statues 
were  removed.^  Elizabeth  declared  that  her  objection 
to  cross  the  bridge  was  not  to  the  statues,  but  to  the  want  of 
decorum  of  the  people  in  their  manner  of  bathing.  And 
this  is  alluded  to  in  a  placard  published  by  the  imperial 
party  a  few  hours  after  her  retreat,  to  this  eff"ect^ — Whither 
goest  thou,  Elizabeth  ?  whither  but  over  that  bridge  which 
thou  didst  refuse  to  pass,  under  the  specious  pretence  of 
modesty,  and  because  thou  wouldst  not  look  upon  the  men 
and  women  bathing  in  the  Moldau  beneath.    Mockery  and 

*  Schiller's  Thirty  Years'  War.  ^  Atlas  Geographique— Bohemia. 

^  German  Tract,  edited  in  Benger's  Life  of  Ehzabeth. 


116 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


falsehood — thou  couldst  not  endure  to  look  upon  the  holy 
crucitix  !  Unsanctified  unbeliever  !  Now  art  thou  carried 
whither  thou  wouldst  not  go  ! If  such  were  the  notes  of 
exultation  over  the  fugitive  Queen,  her  consort  was  not 
spared,  and  a  complete  din  of  accusations  of  cowardice  was 
raised  against  him  on  all  sides,  especially  by  the  English, 
most  unjustly,  as  the  foregoing  plain  narrative  shows. 

When  the  poor  Queen  had  crossed  this  unlucky  bridge, 
her  husband's^ band  of  cavaliers  flung  to  the  gates  at  the 
Tete-de-pont  Tower,  which  had  always  stood  open  for  the 
traffic  of  Prague,  arranging  themselves  to  defend  that  pass 
to  the  utmost,  while  she  made  good  her  flight.  Several  of 
these  brave  gentlemen  rode  by  the  side  of  her  carriage  until 
she  had  gained  the  distance  of  a  mile  from  the  city,  when 
young  Count  Bernard  Thurm,  and  the  young  Count  de  la 
Tour,  of  the  princely  house  of  Auvergne,  one  of  her  hus- 
band's Huguenot  French  relatives,  looking  back  at  the 
bridge,  saw  that  the  battle  was  getting  hot.  They  bade 
the  Queen  farewell,  telling  her  they  would  die  or  defend 
her  retreat.  Elizabeth  charged  these  brave  gentlemen  not 
to  sacrifice  their  lives  in  her  hopeless  cause.  Xever,''  she 
exclaimed,  let  our  best  friends  have  reason  to  curse  us  for 
the  loss  of  their  sons  1  "  Speaking  in  French,  Count  de  la 
Tour  commended  the  Queen  to  God — he  wished  her  safe 
departure  and  triumphant  return  ;  but  assured  her  he  would 
do  the  work  he  went  about,  or  die.''  And  he  did  it,  says 
the  English  despatch,  and  lives  ;  and  honour  live  with  him 
as  his  portion  for  ever  !^ 

That  day's  journey  was  long,  says  this  despatch  y"  six 
great  leagues,  to  a  town  called  Ximburg.  The  Croats 
were  fast  on  the  steps  of  the  Queen.  Sometimes  she 
remained  in  the  carriage,  though  within  a  month  of  her 
accouchement ;  sometimes,  under  the  terror  of  the  Croats, 
she  mounted  behind  young  Ralph  Hopton,  afterwards  so 
renowned  as  the  cavalier  Lord  Hopton,  and  dashed  up  and 
down  the  mountainous  ridges  of  High  Germany,  whilst 

*  Scliiller's  Thirty  Years*  War,  Conway's  Despatch — State-Papers,  Nov. 
14,  1620.    Tooke's  Gustaviis  Adolplius. 
^  Harl.  MS.,  Nov.  14,  1620. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


117 


"  the  plundering  fingers  of  the  Croats''  were  busy  with  her 
baggage  waggons. 

It  was  found  that,  in  the  hurry  of  retreat,  many  valuables 
had  been  left  at  Prague;  among  others,  the  regalia  of 
Bohemia.  It  was  not  indeed  likely  the  citizens  would  have 
suffered  them  to  carry  off  the  crowns  of  St  Wenceslaus  and 
that  of  St  Isabella;  but  Frederic's  jewel  of  the  Order  of 
the  Garter  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  triumphant  foe,  to  the 
vexation  of  Elizabeth  ;  her  own  night-clothes  were  likewise 
left  behind — a  loss  of  more  real  significance.^ 

Early  in  December  1620  they  reached  Breslau,  the  capi- 
tal of  Silesia.  From  thence  she  wrote  to  supplicate  aid  from 
her  father.  Her  husband  tarried  to  rally  his  forces,  and 
then  persuaded  them  to  proceed  to  Frankfort-on-Oder,  from 
whence  she  sent  a  piteous  request  to  George  William, 
Elector  of  Brandenburg,  for  permission  to  lay-in  at  Berlin 
or  Wolfenbuttel,  and  that  he  would  let  her  wait  at  Custrin 
for  a  reply,  as  she  could  not  long  remain  at  Frankfort. 
Most  churlishly  did  this  recreant  conduct  himself  on  the  occa- 
sion. Simultaneously  the  mother  of  Frederic  was  forced  to 
retreat  from  Heidelberg,  carrying  with  her  the  eldest  daugh- 
ter and  second  son  of  King  Frederic  and  Queen  Elizabeth  ; 
she  succeeded  in  gaining  with  them  the  protection  of  her 
daughter,  the  Margravine  or  Electress  of  Brandenburg. 

While  the  unfortunate  Queen  was  reposing  herself  at 
Frankfort-on-Oder,  dubious  as  to  the  shelter  she  might  find 
in  her  time  of  anguish  and  helplessness,  her  husband  decided 
for  Custrin  in  a  letter  still  extant,  written  from  Breslau, 
where  he  was  still  bravely  striving  against  the  overmaster- 
ing odds  of  physical  and  numerical  force. 

To  THE  Queen  of  Bohemia 

I  received  this  morning  when  I  rose  your  dear  letter  from  Frankfort. 
I  praise  God  that  I  know  you  are  safely  arrived  there.  Constantly  and 
diligently  do  I  pray  for  your  welfare.  It  troubles  me  to  hear  of  the  deci- 
sion of  the  Councillors  of  Berlin,  who  are  very  unwise.  You  will  find  no 
place  better  than  Custrin.  Certes,  I  dearly  wish  myself  near"  you.  I  wrote 
to  you  yesterday  a  letter  large  enough,  in  which  I  sent  you  all  I  knew  of 


^  Mercure  de  France,  Nov.  1620. 


^  Bromley  Letters. 


118 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


news.  I  did  not  find  in  or  near  your  letter  that  which  my  sister  wrote 
me.    I  suppose  you  forgot  to  put  it  in  your  packet. 

"  Love  me  always,  and  believe  me  to  the  tomb,  your  faithful,  &c. 

"  Frederic. 

*'From  Breslau,  11  December  1620." 

Most  aggravating  were  the  reports  and  comments  of 
friends  as  well  as  enemies  on  this  dire  reverse  of  fortune. 
Tidings  were  brought  to  England  that  Elizabeth  had  died 
in  premature  childbirth.    At  Antwerp  they  went  so  far  as 
to  publish  engravings  of  her  hearse  and  funeral.    Notes  of 
exultation  were  sounded  loud  and  long  throughout  Spanish 
or  Papal  Netherlands  on  the  occasion.  The  public  press,  then 
in  a  very  evil  and  perverse  infancy,  mocked  our  fugitives. 
"  The  Lamentation  of  Frederic''  was  printed  at  Antwerp,^ 
a  doleful  regret     for  marrying  a  king's  daughter,  who 
chose  that  her  spouse  should  have  a  kingly  title  bought,  be 
it  ever  so  dear.    So  now  Frederic  has  to  foot  it  with  a  staff, 
and  Elizabeth  follows,  dragging  a  cradle  at  her  back.'' 
Placards  were  fixed  on  the  walls  of  Brussels,  with  a  reward 
for    a  king  run  away  a  few  days  since,  of  adolescent  age, 
sanguine  colour,  middle  height,  a  cast  in  one  of  his  eyes,  no 
mustache,  only  down  on  his  lip,  not  badly  disposed  when  a 
stolen  kingdom  did  not  lie  in  his  way — his  name,  Frederic." 
The  English  Roman  Catholic  party  echoed  the  taunts  of 
the  Imperialists.    Mr  Floyd,  a  Member  of  Parliament,  for 
repeating  in  a  speech  an  insulting  squib,  declaring  that  the 
King's  daughter  fled  from  Prague  like  an  Irish  beggar- 
woman  with  her  babe  at  her  back,  was  expelled  by  a  majo- 
rity of  the  House,  and  condemned  to  branding,  flogging, 
and  ruinous  fines.^    King  James  has  been  greatly  blamed 
for  his  tyranny  in  this  affair.     But  all  he  had  to  do  with  it 
was  pardoning  the  most  disgusting  part  of  the  sentence. 
He  was  now  seriously  unhappy  on  account  of  the  utter 
destitution  of  Elizabeth  and  her  children ;  his  allowances 
were  munificent,  but  all  sunk  immediately  in  the  gulf  of 
civil  war.    He  sent  a  magnificent  New  Year's  gift  of 
£20,000  to  Elizabeth  from  his  privy  purse,  and  asked  his 
Parliament  for  supplies  to  aid  his  daughter's  husband  to 


^  Moser. 


*  Drake's  Parliamentary  History. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


119 


regain  his  original  patrimony.  How  the  two  causes  of  the 
kingdom  of  Bohemia  and  the  Palatinate  were  to  be  sepa- 
rated no  mortal  on  earth  could  tell  then,  or  ever  can  tell  5 
perhaps  this  was  the  reason  why  King  James's  negotia- 
tions were  interminable.  Whether  battles  and  sieges,  and 
torrents  of  blood  and  treasure,  would  have  succeeded  better, 
cannot  be  decided  here.  The  Thirty  Years'  War'"  caused 
a  superfluity  of  bloodshed ;  but  whether  it  did  any  good 
to  the  general  interests  of  humanity  must  be  left  to  the 
admirers  of  such  remedies. 

The  insults  and  gibes  of  the  enemy  could  be  borne,  but 
the  cruel  selfishness  of  the  Princes  of  the  Protestant  Union, 
as  it  called  itself,  was  indeed  wounding,  considering  they 
had  forced  Frederic  into  the  trouble.  The  Duke  of  Bruns- 
wick would  not  give  an  asylum  to  his  distressed  cousin, 
Elizabeth,  at  Wolfenbuttel.  As  for  George  William,  he 
murmured  most  inhospitably  at  her  taking  refuge  in  his 
castle  of  Custrin,  exaggerated  the  discomforts  of  its  cold 
damp  walls,  its  want  of  furniture,  and  threw  out  not  a  few 
taunts  on  the  impossibility  of  his  poor  means  being  taxed 
for  the  pomp  of  a  royal  christening.^  Elizabeth's  incor- 
rigible extravagance  certainly  gave  point  to  this  ill-natured 
remark.  Nevertheless,  the  hapless  Queen  in  her  distress 
clung  close  to  such  shelter  as  the  bare  walls  of  massive 
Custrin  could  give  her. 

About  Christmas  her  husband  was  presented  by  his 
Silesians  with  a  subsidy  of  100,000  florins,  and  was  humbly 
entreated  by  them  to  depart  out  of  their  land.  Frederic 
withdrew  then  from  Breslau,  and  at  the  latter  end  of 
December  arrived  at  Custrin.  Elizabeth  gave  birth, 
January  16,  to  the  finest  boy  she  had  yet  borne  him. 
The  child  was  named  Maurice,  in  remembrance  of  the 
warm  friendship  of  their  uncle  Prince  Maurice,  who  cheered 
them  by  his  support  when  all  others  deserted  them.  As 
for  George  William,  their  host,  he  raised  an  inhospitable 
cavil  concerning  forty  barrels  of  butter,  many  thousand 
eggs,  besides  beeves,  pigs,  and  muttons  in  vast  numbers, 
that  Elizabeth  and  her  household  devoured  at  Custrin ; 
^  Spanheim. 


120 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


likewise  bales  of  hay,  and  measures  of  oats,  of  which  he 
found  himself  minus.  ''The  churl!''  exclaims  one  of  his 
countrymen,  ''  was  it  not  well  known  that  he  would  give 
thrice  the  cost  to  one  of  his  buffoons  in  a  drunken  bout, 
whose  jokes  were  coarse  enough  to  please  him  ?  ''^ 

The  truth  was,  that  the  ban  of  the  Empire  which  had 
been  hurled  at  Frederic  began  to  tell  visibly  against  him. 
George  William  was  reproved,  while  Elizabeth  was  in 
childbed  at  Gastrin,  for  harbouring  the  enemies  of  his 
Imperial  master.  George  William  was  admonished  to  dis- 
miss the  Princess  Palatine  [Queen  of  Bohemia]  as  soon  as 
her  recovery  permitted  it.^  However  desirous  the  Imperial 
family — according  to  Captain  Bell's  plot — were  of  destroy- 
ing Ehzabeth  and  her  infants,  it  was  not  proposed  to 
turn  them  into  the  snow,  as  in  the  case  of  Hamilton  of 
Bothwellhaugh's  wife  and  babe. 

George  William  now  began  to  manifest  some  affectionate 
loyalty  to  his  Emperor;  Elizabeth,  therefore,  had  in  about 
six  weeks  to  move  on,  which  she  did  February  19th,  for  a 
few  hours'  visit  at  Berlin,  where  she  left  her  infant  son, 
Maurice,  in  the  kind  care  of  her  sister-in-law,  Charlotte, 
the  Electress.2  She  crossed  the  Elbe  to  Wolfenbuttel,  but 
there  was  no  rest  for  the  sole  of  her  foot  there.  Her  kinsman, 
the  reigning  Duke  of  Brunswick,  was  unwilling  or  afraid  to 
permit  her  stay ;  his  brother  Christian,  the  Bishop  of  Halber- 
stadt,  was,  on  the  contrary,  enthusiastic  in  her  cause.  Here 
an  escort  from  her  husband  met  her ;  and  soon  after 
Frederic  himself,  who  had  parted  from  her  to  try  the 
cold  and  timid  aid  of  kindred  and  friends,  the  Princes  of 
the  Protestant  Union  in  North  Germany,  rejoined  her.^ 
It  is  said  that,  about  this  period,  Frederic  disguised  him- 
self effectually,  and,  passing  up  the  Rhine,  visited  secretly 
his  treasure-vaults  at  Heidelberg,  and  brought  from  thence 
a  great  mass  of  coin.  When  he  returned,  he  and  Ehza- 
beth commenced  their  journey  through  Westphalia  towards 

^  Picture  of  the  Marcli  of  Brandenburg,  by  Von  Gallus. 
^  State-Paper  MS.,  January  19,  1620-21. 

^  Carleton  Despatches — State-Paper  Office,  from  Feb.  to  March. 
Ibid. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


121 


Holland,  having  received  a  warm  invitation  from  the 
States.  They  were  escorted  by  a  troop  of  English  cavaliers, 
who  formed  a  voluntary  guard -noble  for  them.  Ralph 
Hopton  still  tendered  Elizabeth  his  best  services,  and  the 
word  went  among  the  gallant  band,  that  "  if  their  King, 
James,  forbade  them  to  call  his  daughter  Queen  of  Bohemia, 
they  supposed  they  might  call  her  Queen  of  Hearts/'^  At 
Miinster  six  companies  of  men-at-arms  were  sent  her  by 
Prince  Maurice,  who  brought  them  down  the  Rhine  in 
triumph  to  Emerich,  where  Elizabeth  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting,  safe  and  well,  her  eldest  boy  Henry  Frederic,  who 
was  under  the  protection  of  Count  Ernest  of  Nassau.  And 
there  Count  Solms,  his  three  daughters,  and  several  other 
members  of  her  shattered  and  scattered  court,  gathered 
round  the  King  and  Queen  of  Bohemia,  making  a  shadowy 
show  of  royalty. 

Little  Rupert  was  his  mother's  companion,  then  a  lively 
infant  of  about  fifteen  months  old,  whose  innocent  appear- 
ance excited  the  utmost  affection  in  the  good  fraus  and 
bourgeoisie  of  Delft  and  Rotterdam.  All  the  intermediate 
thickly-set  villages  between  these  towns  and  the  Hague, 
were  lined  with  living  walls  of  people  to  see  the  Qaeen  of 
Hearts  "  pass  with  her  little  prince  on  her  knee.  The 
Palace  of  Henry  Frederic — the  King's  youngest  uncle — of 
Orange,  was  prepared  for  their  reception.  Here  Sir  Thomas 
Roe,  the  envoy,  his  brother  diplomat,  Dorchester,  and 
crowds  of  English,  gathered  round  Ehzabeth. 

Next  door  to  the  Orange-Nassau  palace  was  a  fine  building 
nowise  inferior  to  it,  but  belonging  to  Cornelius  Von  Myle,  a 
Dutchman  of  vast  wealth,  who  had  been  exiled  on  some 
religio-politic  pretence  or  other.  All  his  property  had  been 
confiscated  to  the  States,  but  his  afilicted  wife  was  permit- 
ted to  shelter  in  an  obscure  corner  of  her  once  magnificent 
home.  The  States  presented  the  mansion  to  Elizabeth ; 
who,  instead  of  expelling  the  right  owner,  consoled  and 
comforted  her,  and  retained  her  as  an  inmate,  assuring  her 
that  she  would  not  forget  to  use  all  influence  to  obtain  the 
recall  of  her  husband  and  the  restoration  of  their  goods, — 
^  Howell's  Letters. 


122 


ELIZABETH  STUAKT. 


and  Elizabeth  Stuart  kept  her  word.  The  kindness  of  Eliza- 
beth to  the  desolate  wife  of  Cornelius  ^  drew  on  her  a  most 
dangerous  request,  which  was  to  ask  for  mercy  from  the 
States  on  three  Roman  Catholic  priests  condemned  to  death. 
It  seems  Elizabeth  actually  had  the  humane  intrepidity  so 
to  do,  although  as  sure  of  being  maligned  by  certain  spirits 
of  her  own  party,  as  if  she  had  had  the  temerity  to  write 
historic  truth  in  the  nineteenth  century.  The  Popish  matter 
was  thus  compromised :  the  condemned  priests  underwent 
their  sentence,  but  their  bodies,  instead  of  being  left  to  rot 
on  the  gibbet,  to  the  delight  and  edification  of  their  op- 
ponents, were,  in  compliment  to  her  intercession,  decently 
interred.^ 

Three  of  Elizabeth^s  little  ones  were  still  dispersed  in 
distant  lands.  The  Prince,  and  his  little  brother  Eupert, 
were  with  their  mother  in  Holland ;  Maurice  with  his  kind 
aunt  of  Brandenburg ;  the  Princess  Elizabeth  and  Charles 
Louis  resided  with  their  grandmother,  Juliana,  ostensibly 
protected  by  the  mighty  King  of  Poland,  but  in  reality  on 
the  march-ground  of  his  vassal,  the  Elector  -  Margrave  of 
Brandenburg. 

Howsoever  it  might  be  afterwards  blighted  by  the  strife 
of  the  world,  and,  worse  than  all,  by  religious  politics, 
Elizabeth  reared  her  young  children  in  the  same  domestic 
love  which  had  united  her  so  fondly  with  her  own  brothers. 
They  were  encouraged  to  write  to  each  other  the  same  kind 
of  innocent  little  letters  expressive  of  genuine  feeling. 
Elizabeth's  promising  eldest  son  excelled  in  these  infan- 
tine epistles.  Some  are  extant  to  his  next  brother  Charles 
Louis,  mentioning  his  journey  from  Prague,  of  which 
he,  in  happy  unconsciousness  of  its  dangers,  speaks  with 
delight.  In  another  he  tells  him  that  though  little 
Maurice  was  left  at  Berlin,  yet  Eupert  was  with  them 
"  blythe  and  well,  safe  and  sound ; that  little  Eupert 
began  to  talk,  and  that  the  first  words  he  uttered  were  in 
the  Bohemian  tongue,  signifying — Praise  the  Lord.'' 
The  young  prince  sends  withal  the  most  loving  messages  to 

*  Description  of  the  Hague,  printed  at  Delft,  1730. 
2  MS.  British  Museum. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


123 


his  grandmother  (the  Electress  Juliana),  and  to  his  dear  sister 
Ehzabeth.  Many  of  his  little  letters  to  his  grandfather, 
James  I.,  are  preserved  in  our  archives,  in  one  of  which 
he  triumphantly  announces  that  he  can  say  ''hie  hasc  hoc/' 
As  they  are  in  English,  his  letters  are  usually  mistaken  for 
those  of  James  I/s  eldest  son. 

When  settled  at  the  Hague,  Elizabeth  was  visited  by 
many  of  her  former  ladies,  who  vied  with  each  other  in 
making  her  presents.  At  last  no  one  knew  what  to  send  ; 
the  "  material  aid of  money  and  arms  was  not  at 
the  command  of  ladies.  Lady  Sedley,  the  relative  of  Eliza- 
beth's old  friend  Lord  Dorchester,  requested  him  to  instruct 
her  as  to  the  best  kind  of  gifts  she  could  send  her.  The 
answer^  gives  us  an  idea  of  the  life  she  led  at  the  Hague. 
As  usual  she  had  packs  of  little  dogs  and  monkeys 
round  her,  most  likely  more  than  were  pleasant,  for  he 
warns  Lady  Sedley  not  to  add  any  more  to  that  stock. 
Horses  were  always  acceptable  to  the  Queen,  but,  unfor- 
tunately, she  could  not  use  them  just  then  at  the  Hague, 
where  she  had  already  more  than  it  was  convenient  to 
keep.  Of  gold  trinkets,  she  had  sufficient  store.  Sweet- 
meats she  never  tasted,  and  as  for  fine  stuffs  or  brocades, 
they  were  far  more  choice  at  the  Hague  than  in  Lon- 
don. Quaint  or  ingenious  devices  were  all  that  could  be 
acceptable,  and  the  figure  of  Fortune  turning  on  her 
wheel,  is  finally  recommended  as  an  offering  most  likely  to 
be  acceptable.  Lord  Dorchester  affirms  that  the  Queen 
has  always  sixteen  or  seventeen  dogs  and  monkeys  around 
her,  and  if  she  wanted  any  more,  his  wife  has  as  many  at 
her  service.  The  poor  man  seems  to  think  it  were  pity  to 
fill  a  possible  place  for  one  of  his  own  domestic  nuisances. 

Elizabeth  did  not  break  her  royal  word  to  Madame  von 
Myle.  The  same  spring  she  solicited  the  States  so  strenu- 
ously on  behalf  of  her  exiled  lord,  that  Cornelius  von  Myle 
was  permitted  to  return  to  the  country  of  Holland,  though 
not  to  enter  the  walls  of  the  Hague.  Elizabeth  wished  to 
restore  his  house,  declaring  to  the  States  that  her  family 


^  State-Paper  Letter,  Carleton  to  Sedley,  Feb.  1622,  Hague. 


1?4 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


increased  so  fast  it  would  be  no  longer  large  enough  for 
her.  April  17th,  1622,  Elizabeth  gave  birth  to  another 
daughter:  she  was  the  first  born  a  Dutchwoman,  and  was 
welcomed  by  her  hospitable  entertainers  with  as  much 
glee  as  if  a  daughter  had  been  born  to  them  all. 

Christian  of  Brunswick  is  first  mentioned  as  Elizabeth's 
friend  on  occasion  of  the  christening  of  this  little  lady; 
yet  he  did  not  attend  personally,  not  even  by  deputy, 
by  reason  of  a  quarrel  between  him  and  the  States.  For 
Christian,  though   a   layman  and  swordsman,  was  the 
Lutheran  Bishop  of  Halberstadt — most  terribly  predatory 
in  his   customs  and  manners,  rather  too   much  given 
to  catching  rich  Mynheers,  and  not  letting  them  out  until 
they  had  paid  ruinously  for  their  freedom.    He  was  the 
younger  son  of  Elizabeth's  great-aunt,  a  princess  of  Den- 
mark, who  had  married  the  representative  of  the  line  of 
Brunswick.    He  seems  first  to  have  met  and  admired  the 
bright  Queen  during  her  recent  visits  at  Berlin  and  Wol- 
fenbuttel.    The  redoubtable  Christian,  on  close  inspection 
of  his  faites  and  gestes^  differs  frightfully  from  the  chival- 
rous hero  described  by  certain  fair  authors  disposed  to  sen- 
timentalise on  his  passion  for  his  lovely  cousin,  the  Queen 
of  Bohemia,  therefore  the  less  said  of  him  here  the  better. 
At  present  he  disappointed  and  disarranged  the  christen- 
ing procession  of  his  little  kinswoman  and  godchild,  so 
that  there  was  no  time  to  provide  a  proxy  to  represent  his 
gracious  person.    However,  as  three  Hogan  Mogans,  de- 
puties of  the  States  of  Holland,  attended  to  stand  for  the 
infant  Louise  Hollandine,  for  so  she  was  named,  she  was  in 
no  want  of  sponsors.    The  young  Amelia  of  Solms  carried 
the  bearing-cloth  or  train  of  the  baby,  and  her  hopeless 
lover,  the  brave  Prince  Henry  of  Orange,  was  near  her  in 
close  attendance  at  the  ceremony.^    The  States  presented 
their  name-child, .  Louise  Hollandine,  with  a  substantial 
annuity,  amounting  to  eight  thousand  crowns ;  as  for  her 
godsire.  Christian  the  Bishop,  he  rode  forth,  took  a  goodly 
prey  from  his  Catholic  neighbours,  and  sent  a  weighty 


1  Carleton's  Despatch,  April  1622— State-Paper  MS. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


125 


purse  as  his  benefaction  to  his  spiritual  relative.^  The 
money  came  in  at  a  most  seasonable  time,  when  the  mother 
of  the  newly-made  christian  was  involved  in  distress  and 
debt  on  account  of  the  showy  ceremonial.  Elizabeth  sent 
her  thanks  so  warmly  to  the  Bishop  of  Halberstadt  for  his 
gift,  that  henceforth  he  vowed  himself  her  knight  of  the 
lance — mounted  a  glove  he  had  taken  from  her  fair  hand  at 
her  last  visit  to  the  Duch^s  of  Brunswick  on  his  helm,  put 
a  motto  on  his  standard  "  Fur  Gott  und  fur  Sie/'  and  took 
vow  never  to  lay  down  his  arms  until  his  beautiful  cousin 
was  restored  to  her  Bohemian  kingdom.^ 

In  the  course  of  little  more  than  a  year  George  William 
of  Brandenburg  began  to  tire  of  protecting  the  children  of 
Frederic  and  Elizabeth.  The  young  Elizabeth,  on  arriving 
at  the  Hague  and  joining  the  family  circle,  was  of  course 
a  stranger  to  mother,  father,  brothers,  and  sisters.  The 
austere  puritanism  of  her  grandmother,  the  Electress  Juliana, 
had  imbued  the  quiet  little  German  maiden.  The  Dutch 
warrior,  her  great-uncle  Maurice  the  Stadtholder,  tried  to 
enliven  the  solemn  little  lady  by  pinching  her  ear,  a  la 
Napoleon,  saying,  at  the  same  time,  Another  Julienne, 
as  demure  as  the  prototype  !''^  —so  closely  did  the  young 
Elizabeth  resemble  his  sister,  the  Electress-Dowager,  who 
had  reared  her.  Her  infant  sister,  Louisa,  was  consigned  to 
the  care  of  Sybella  Ketler,  a  lady  who  had  fulfilled  the 
office  of  governess  to  her  father  ^  in  his  infancy,  and  had 
followed  the  electoral  family's  changeful  fortunes.  Sybella 
Ketler  likewise  undertook  the  charge  of  the  young  EHza- 
beth.  The  Queen  of  Bohemia  never  scrupled  to  admit  that 
Louisa,  who  grew  up  lovely  in  person,  was  her  favourite 
daughter ;  the  eldest,  Elizabeth,  who  had  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  an  almost  miraculous  weight  of  learning  at  the  sad 
and  solemn  court  of  the  dowager  Juliana,  was  not  brilliant 
in  beauty.  She  always  avowed  a  melancholy  conviction 
that  her  mother  did  not  love  her.    Nor  does  she  seem  to 

1  Carleton's  Despatch,  June  1622— State-Paper  MS. 
^  Harleian  MS. ;  Miss  Benger's  Life  of  Elizabeth. 
^  Guhraeur,  Memoirs  of  the  Princess  Palatine. 
^  Letters  of  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  Duchess  of  Orleans. 


126 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


have  deceived  herself.  Such  is  frequently  the  case  when  a 
child  has  been  brought  up  apart  from  the  family  nest. 

In  the  commencement  of  May,  the  same  spring,  Bishop- 
duke  Christian,  having  plundered  and  swept  all  the  parts 
of  Northern  Germany  supposed  to  be  inimical  to  the  regality 
of  his  dear  Queen  and  cousin,  joined  himself  to  Mansfelt, 
who  was  still  a  mercenary  of  Frederic's,  when  Frederic 
could  command  any  cash.  But  both  heroes  experienced  a 
thorough  overthrow  from  the  terrible  Count  Tilly,  that 
Imperialist  general  infamous  for  his  cruelty.  Mansfelt 
laid  the  blame  of  his  defeat  on  "  the  mad  Brunswicker," 
and  the  mad  Brunswicker  on  Mansfelt.  In  a  very  pretty 
letter^  the  said  Brunswicker  thus  exculpates  himself  to  his 
dear  and  beloved  Queen  and  cousin  : — 

"  Most  humbly  I  entreat  you  not  to  be  angry  with  your  faithful  slave 
for  this  misfortune,  nor  take  away  the  good  affection  your  Majesty  has 
hitherto  shown  me,  who  love  you  above  all  in  this  world  !  Consider 
victory  is  in  God's  hands,  not  mine,  and  that  I  cannot  challenge  victory, 
although  my  courage  in  dying  for  your  Majesty  and  serving  you  will  never 
fail  me,  for  I  esteem  your  favour  a  hundred  times  dearer  than  life  ;  and  be 
assured  I  shall  try  not  only  to  reassemble  my  troops,  but  moreover  to  raise 
as  many  more,  that  I  may  be  in  better  condition  to  serve  faithfully 
your  Majesty,  whom  I  love  beyond  the  possible  !  Assuring  you,  that  as 
long  as  God  gives  me  life  I  shall  serve  you  faithfully,  and  expend  all  I 
have  in  the  world  for  you.  Your  most  humblest,  your  most  constant, 
faithful,  affectionate,  and  most  obedient  slave,  who  loves  and  will  love  you 
infinitely  and  incessantly  to  death.  "  Christian." 

Notwithstanding  these  ardent  protestations,  the  attachment 
was  a  most  innocent  one,  at  least  on  the  part  of  Elizabeth, 
whose  husband  saw  and  approved  of  the  enthusiasm  which 
promised  him  material  aid  against  his  enemies,  and  Frederic 
well  knew  the  jargon  of  gallantry  at  that  period,  which  con- 
sisted of  such  verbal  flourishes.  Taking  advantage  of 
Christian's  warlike  intentions,  Frederic  joined  him  with  all 
the  troops  he  could  gather,  and  made  a  demonstration  which 
put  Heidelberg  and  the  Lower  Palatinate  for  a  short  deceit- 
ful moment  of  success  almost  in  their  power.  The  result  was, 
however,  that  Tilly  was  too  strong  for  them.  Christian  lost 
his  arm,  after  losing  several  battles ;  his  life  was  in  danger. 

*  Among  the  Carleton  Correspondence — State  Papers. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


127 


Frederic  speaks  of  him  tenderly  and  gratefully  to  Elizabeth. 
After  lamenting  the  loss  of  his  poor  Heidelberg,  and  mention- 
ing in  most  natural  terms  the  misery  of  his  loving  people, 
he  says  :  "  I  am  rejoiced  Duke  Christian  is  recovering,  for 
rather  would  I  lose  an  arm  myself  than  he  should  die.  We 
are  extremely  indebted  to  him,  and  God  knows  I  love  him 
as  a  brother !  Continue  still  to  love  your  own  poor  Cela- 
don, and  be  assured  that  his  thoughts  turn  continually  to 
his  souFs  star,  and  that  he  is  ever,  to  the  tomb,  your 
Frederic/'  The  whole  letter  is  most  touching,  and  indeed 
gives  good  cause  for  the  true  love  with  w^hich  Elizabeth 
ever  regarded  her  unpretending  spouse.^  Christian,  during 
the  short  remainder  of  his  life,  wore  a  silver  arm.  The 
negotiations  of  James  I.  are  said  to  have  caused  the  utter 
loss  of  the  whole  of  the  towns  in  the  Palatinate,  including 
Elizabeth's  dower-castle  of  Frankenthal. 

If  Elizabeth's  stores  of  wealth  decreased,  the  number  of 
her  children  increased  in  proportion.  Her  sons  Louis  and 
Edward  were  born  in  the  succeeding  years  1623  and  1624. 
These  additional  scions  to  an  already  numerous  family  had 
no  better  welcome  than  the  consummation  of  their  father's 
ruin.  The  Palatinate  being  taken  from  him  by  the  Em- 
perors' Diet,  the  Upper  Province  was  settled  fast  upon  his 
foe.  Max,  Duke  of  Bavaria.  The  Lower  Palatinate,  being 
chiefly  Protestant,  of  various  sects,  though  unfortunately 
only  the  Calvinist  was  tolerated,  still  remained  true  in  affec- 
tion to  its  hereditary  ruler  Frederic  V. — fresh  insurrections 
breaking  forth  as  soon  as  one  seemed  trodden  out. 

The  success  of  her  brother's  marriage  with  the  Infanta 
was  of  course  impeded  by  the  situation  of  the  Palatine's 
family.  Elizabeth  herself  was  willing  to  show  amiable 
feelings  towards  her  expected  sister-in-law ;  "  she  spoke 
her  fair  in  a  letter,  and  sent  her,  as  she  says,  out  of  her 
poverty,  a  pair  of  diamond  pendants."  Her  feelings  at 
this  period  are  best  depicted  by  her  own  pen,  in  one  of  her 
confidential  letters  to  Sir  Thomas  Eoe  : — 

"  I  have  cause  enough  to  be  sad,"  she  writes,^  "  yet  I  am  still  of  my  wild 
humour  to  be  as  merry  as  I  can,  in  spite  of  fortune.    I  can  send  you  no 

1  Bromley  Letters,  Sept.  1622.  2  state-Paper  MS.,  May  1623. 


128 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


news  but  that  will  make  you  sadder,  and  I  see  you  have  no  need  of  it. 
All  grows  worse  and  worse,  as  I  know  you  understand  by  honest  Carleton. 
My  brother  is  still  in  Spain.  The  dispensation  is  come,  but  I  know  not 
yet  upon  what  conditions.  My  brother  is  still  loving  to  me  ;  I  would 
others  had  as  good  nature.  He  sent  Will.  Crofts  to  see  me,  from  Spain, 
with  a  very  loving  letter  and  message.  But  my  father  will  never  leave 
treating,  though  with  it  he  hath  lost  us  all ;  for  my  poor  Frankendal  he 
hath  delivered  to  the  Spaniard,  and  would  make  a  truce  for  fifteen  months, 
till  a  peace  be  made,  to  give  our  enemies  time  to  settle  themselves  in  our 
country.  My  young  cousin  of  Brunswick  [Duke  Christian]  is  still  con- 
stant ;  he  hath  a  fair  army  of  20,000  men.  He  was  forced  to  leave  Mans- 
felt  by  his  evil  usage.  Mansfelt  is  a  brave  man,  but  all  is  not  gold  that 
glitters  in  him.    I  am  glad  you  like  our  pictures." 

She  breaks  out  into  a  delighted  exclamation  on  an  alliance 
with  the  Turks,  effected  by  her  husband's  family  connection, 
Bethlem  Gabor,  elect  King  of  Hungary ;  but  it  brought  no 
blessings  to  Christendom  : — 

"  I  would,"  she  adds,  "  that  the  Turks  paid  the  Emperor  soundly,  for  it 
is  a  hard  choice  which  is  the  worser  devil.  I  pray  recommend  my  love 
to  your  wife.    Farewell,  honest  Thom." 

This  homely  abbreviation  was  the  word  by  which  she 
usually  addressed  her  old  friend  Eoe. 

The  rupture  of  her  brother's  Spanish  marriage-treaty, 
and  his  hasty  return  to  England,  roused  Elizabeth  from  the 
despondency  which,  with  all  the  forced  bravado  of  a  high 
spirit,  really  pervades  this  letter.  Her  brother,  and  even 
Buckingham,  now  led  the  opposition,  bent  on  forcing 
England  into  war  to  vindicate  her  cause.  "  All  is  changed 
from  being  Spanish,''  writes  Elizabeth  triumphantly,  in 
which  I  assure  you  that  Buckingham  doth  most  nobly  and 
faithfully  for  me.  Worthy  Southampton  is  much  in  favour, 
and  all  that  are  not  Spanish.  One  thing  gives  me  much 
hope  of  this  Parliament,  because  it  began  on  my  dear  dead 
brother's  birthday.''^ 

Her  doughty  knight  Duke  Christian,  the  Protestant 
bishop,  began  to  stir  himself,  and  with  Mansfelt  pre- 
sented himself  in  England,  lured  by  the  aids  of  men  and 
money  promised  them  by  this  Parliament,  and  still  more 
by  the  private  loans  and  benevolences  that  James  now 

^  Roe's  Correspondence— State-Papers.  Miss  Benger. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


129 


encouraged  his  people  to  raise  for  his  daughter.  Elizabeth, 
in  order  to  give  the  greater  eclat  to  her  champion,  Christian 
the  Bishop-duke,  had  solicited  her  father  to  cause  his  election 
as  Knight  of  the  Garter.  But  an  unfortunate  impediment 
interposed — and  the  marvel  is,  that  in  those  times  people 
were  found  old-fashioned  enough  to  heed  it — for  if  purity 
of  conduct,  and  hands  clean  from  pillage,  had  been  requisite 
for  candidates  of  that  noble  order,  even  the  royal  founder 
must  always  have  had  a  short  complement  of  knights.  But 
one  of  Christian's  late  pranks  was  pleaded  against  his  admis- 
sion, to  the  following  effect  :^  Two  of  his  marauders,  of  the 
very  appropriate  names  of  Kniphausen  and  Eooke,  had 
laid  their  claws  on  some  fat  traders  of  Hamburg,  a  neutral 
if  not  a  friendly  Protestant  territory,  and  coerced  the  poor 
creatures,  until  they  parted  from  a  large  portion  of  their 
substance  to  save  the  rest  of  their  skins.  Elizabeth,  who 
was  true  of  heart  and  honest  in  her  dealings,  was  dreadfully 
afflicted  at  what  her  friend  Carleton  calls  "  the  accident,'' 
and  more,  as  she  declared,  at  the  light  and  reckless  view 
Christian  took  of  it.  With  an  honourable  principle  that 
does  her  credit,  she  insisted  Christian  should  be  cleared  of 
this  stain  before  he  received  the  Garter  ;  but  she  had  hopes 
the  pillage  and  robbing  was  the  work  of  his  merry-men. 
Christian  was  too  manly  to  admit  this  extenuation  ;  he  ex- 
onerated Kniphausen  and  Eooke,  and  confessed  the  wicked 
fact.  In  consideration  of  his  penitence  she  withdrew  her 
opposition  to  his  election  as  Knight  of  the  Garter  at  her 
father's  court.^ 

"  I  had  answered  you  sooner,"  wrote  Elizabeth  to  her 
friend  Roe,  "  but  that  I  staid,  hoping  to  send  some  cer- 
tain good  news  out  of  England,  where  there  is  13,000  men 
a-levying  for  Mansfelt.  What  they  are  to  do  I  know  not, 
for  the  King  [Frederic]  and  I  are  utterly  ignorant  of  all, 
though  they  say  it  is  for  our  service."  After  much  discus- 
sion on  the  marriage  of  the  nominal  King  of  Hungary,  and 
some  expressions  of  hope  concerning  the  part  the  King  of 


^  Carleton  Correspondence,  June  1624. 
2  Roe's  Correspondence,  edited  by  Miss  Benger. 
VOL.  VIII.  I 


130 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Sweden  was  likely  to  take  in  her  quarrel,  she  proceeds  to 
mention  mournfully  the  death  of  her  friend  Lord  Southamp- 
ton, likewise  the  death  of  my  youngest  boy  save  one,  called 
Louis.  It  was  the  prettiest  child  I  had,  and  the  first  I  ever 
lost.  I  have  christened  my  youngest  of  all  Edward.  You 
see  I  can  send  you  nothing  but  deaths ;  only  your  v*^ife 
Apsley,^  is  gone  to  England  to  marry  Sir  Albert  Morton, 
who  goeth  extraordinary  Ambassador  to  France.'' 

The  expedition  for  her  assistance,  like  many  a  one  that 
has  left  this  island's  shores,  mouldered  away  miserably. 
Neither  in  friendly  Holland  nor  on  the  coasts  of  Picardy 
were  these  ill-disciplined  volunteers  permitted  to  land  from 
their  transports.  Plague  broke  out  in  the  vexed  flotilla, 
and  famine  did  such  hideous  work  that  no  pen  has  dared 
record  the  details;  while  tempests  strewed  the  sands  of 
Calais  with  wreck  and  corpses.  Scarcely  a  volunteer  sur- 
vived. As  for  the  Bishop-duke  Christian  and  Count  Mans- 
felt,  the  terror  of  whose  depredations  was  more  felt  by 
friends  and  neutrals  than  by  their  foes,  both  died  natural 
deaths  a  few  months  afterwards.  Christian  expired  at 
Wolfenbuttel  of  a  raging  fever. 

Ehzabeth  had  to  mourn  nearer  friends  ;  she  writes:  The 
King's  death  and  the  Prince  of  Orange's  did  follow  so  near 
one  another,  as  it  gave  me  double  sorrow  for  the  loss  of 
such  a  father  and  such  a  friend,  whom  I  loved  as  a  father.'' 
Her  husband's  uncle,  Maurice,  Stadtholder  of  Holland,  she 
here  deplores,  who  died  within  a  few  days  of  James  L  It 
was  the  disastrous  siege  of  Breda,  then  invested  by  the 
Spanish  commander-in-chief  Spinola,  that  broke  the  heart 
and  sapped  the  constitution  of  Maurice.  At  this  siege,  and 
many  others  of  useless  bloodshed,  Frederic  had  served  as 
volunteer.  At  the  same  time  both  Spinola  and  Maurice 
died  of  wasting  diseases.  Superstition  never  was  more 
active  than  at  this  most  horrid  siege ;  nocturnal  alarms 
hurtled  in  the  air,  the  reveille  was  beat  at  dead  of  night,  no 
one  could  tell  by  whom,  when  the  slaughter-tired  soldiers 


^  One  of  Elizabeth's  young  ladies,  before  mentioned.  She  calls  her 
"  wife  "  in  allusion  to  some  old  joke. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


131 


on  each  side  were  sleeping  profoundly.  Spectres  were  seen 
in  every  form  at  noonday  ;  and  fearful  signs  of  a  fiery-red 
arm  in  the  heavens,  holding  a  blazing  sword,  often  hung 
over  Breda,  to  the  consternation  of  all  beholders.  At  last 
the  devil  was  seen  walking  about  with  Mort  in  his  mouth — 
a  singular  proceeding  of  his  sable  majesty,  of  which  one  Mr 
Elborougli  bore  veracious  witness,^  who  met  him — but 
whether  the  fiendish  apparition  cried  "  mort,"  or  carried 
a  label  so  endorsed  in  his  mouth,  he  does  not  precisely 
define. 

Stadtholder  Maurice,  who  had  lived  a  most  profligate 
hfe  himself,  did  homage  to  female  virtue  on  his  deathbed, 
by  exhorting  his  beloved  half-brother,  Henry  of  Orange, 
to  marry  the  lady  he  loved,  Elizabeth's  favourite  friend 
and  attendant,  Amelia  of  Solms.  EHzabeth  herself  men- 
tions her  in  the  course  of  the  following  letter : — 

"  I  should  have  been  sadder/'  she  says,*  "  but  the  comfort  of  my  dear 
brother's  love  doth  revive  me.  He  [Charles  I.]  hath  sent  to  me  Sir  Henry 
Vane,  his  cofferer,  to  assure  me  that  he  will  be  both  father  and  brother  to 
the  King  of  Bohemia  and  me.  Now  you  may  be  sure  all  will  go  well  in 
England,  for  your  new  master  will  leave  nothing  undone  for  our  good." 

After  a  few  glances  on  the  policy  of  Denmark  and  Swe- 
den, she  thus  mentions  the  Orange  wedlock  : — 

"  I  am  sure  you  must  have  heard  already  of  this  Prince  of  Orange's 
■marriage  with  one  of  my  women  ;  she  is  a  Countess  of  Solms,  daughter  to 
Count  Solms  that  served  the  King  of  Bohemia  at  Heidelberg.  I  doubt 
not  you  remember  him  by  his  red  face,  and  her  mother  by  her  fatness. 
She  [Amelia]  you  never  saw,  but  two  of  her  sisters  ;  she  is  very  handsome 
and  good  ;  she  has  no  money,  but  he  [Henry,  Prince  of  Orange],  has 
enough  for  both." 

Then  referring  again  to  Charles  I,  after  some  comments 
on  Koe's  recall, — 

"  I  have,"  she  says,  "  the  best  brother  in  the  world  ;  he  is  now  a  married 
man,  for  his  marriage  was  performed  at  Paris  the  1st  of  this  month,^  by 
Prince  Joinville,  representing  my  brother.  She  [Henrietta  Maria]  is  now 
on  her  way  for  England.    If  I  can  at  any  time  do  you  any  good  with  my 


^  Roe's  Correspondence,  May  26,  1625.  ^  Harleian  MS. 

^  May  11,  new  style.  Miss  Benger  has  edited  this  letter  very  ably,  all 
but  the  date,  misprinted  July. 


132 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


brother,  I  assure  you  I  will,  if  I  do  but  know  in  what,  for  I  never  will  be 
unfaithful  to  you,  for  the  many  testimonies  you  have  given  me  of  your 
good  affection.    Therefore,  honest  Thorn,  be  assured  I  will  never  change." 

A  little  daughter  added  to  her  family  by  Elizabeth  soon 
after,  was  named  Henrietta  Maria,  in  compliment  to  the 
new  sister,  of  whom  she  speaks  here  with  so  much  com- 
placency. 


ELIZABETH  STUART 


CHAPTEE  V. 

SUMMARY 

Legacy  of  Prince  Maurice  to  Elizabeth — Her  husband  and  eldest  son  go  to 
Amsterdam  concerning  it — The  packet-boat  run  down — The  young  Prince 
perishes  miserably — Elizabeth's  grief  impairs  her  health — Birth  of  her 
daughter  Charlotte — Presides  at  surrender  of  Bois-le-Duc — Catches  camp 
fever — Goes  to  Rhenen — Dislike  of  the  Hague — Her  husband  and  herself 
publicly  rebuked  by  a  preacher — Birth  of  her  fifth  daughter  Sophia,  at 
the  Hague — Death  of  her  daughter  Charlotte — Her  husband  ill  and  in- 
different to  life — New  league  in  their  favour,  led  by  Gustavus  Adolphus 
— Birth  of  Elizabeth's  thirteenth  child,  named  Gustaf — Frederic  departs 
to  join  Gustavus  Adolphus — His  farewell  to  Elizabeth  and  little  Sophia 
— Meeting  with  the  Swedish  King — He  refuses  to  yield  to  Frederic  the 
Palatinate — Frederic  refuses  to  tolerate  the  Lutherans— Frederic's  letters 
to  Elizabeth  from  Frankfort  and  Munich — Elizabeth's  letter  to  Sir  H. 
Vane — Letters  to  Elizabeth  from  her  husband,  deploring  the  miseries  of 
his  country — Smashing  of  her  Glasen  Salle  by  the  Spaniards — She  re- 
quires purchases  at  Frankfort  fair — Messages  of  the  German  Princesses, 
wishing  her  among  them — Frederic's  first  complaints  of  illness— Billet 
of  his,  with  his  sister's  present — Gustavus  Adolphus  endeavours  to  re- 
duce him  to  vassalage — Spaniards  treat  about  Elizabeth's  dower-castle — 
Great  battle  of  Lutzen — Death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus — Small  cause  for 
Frederic  and  Elizabeth  to  regret  him — Elizabeth's  dower-palace  surren- 
dered to  Frederic — Elizabeth's  exertions  for  Frederic  to  succeed  Gus- 
tavus Adolphus — He  retires  very  ill  to  Mayence — Fever  and  delirium — 
His  last  thoughts  on  EHzabeth— Her  name  in  his  last  prayers — Dies— 
Trouble  regarding  burial — Buried  finally  at  Sedan. 

The  friendship  which  Eb'zabeth  had  ever  experienced 
from  her  husband's  uncle  Maurice  the  Stadtholder,  had  been 
further  testified  by  his  last  will.  Among  other  more  sub- 
stantial legacies,  he  had  bequeathed  to  her  his  share  in  a 
Dutch  company  that  had  raised  a  fleet,  the  object  of  which 


134 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


was  to  intercept  some  plate-laden  galleons  from  Mexico 
bound  for  the  Spanish  Netherlands.  The  legacy  left  in 
1625  appeared  in  1628  somewhat  visionary;  but  at  the 
close  of  that  year  news  arrived  that  Admiral  Heims  had 
actually  captured  the  galleons,  and  come  to  safe  moorings  in 
the  Zuyder  Zee  with  his  prey,  to  the  amount  of  d£^870,000.i 
In  joyful  expectancy  of  receiving  Elizabeth's  share  of  the 
cash,  which  amounted  to  one-eighth  of  the  whole,  the  King 
of  Bohemia  set  out  from  the  Hague  to  Amsterdam  by  the 
packet-boat.  Unfortunately  the  young  Prince,  his  eldest  son, 
in  his  fifteenth  year,  was  staying  with  him  at  the  Hague, 
having  finished  his  education  at  Leyden,  and  now  prepar- 
ing to  serve  as  a  volunteer  in  the  next  campaign.  Frederic 
made  him  the  companion  of  his  voyage.  It  was  the  dead  of 
winter,  January  7th,  old  style ;  but  all  the  waters  between 
Amsterdam  and  the  Zuyder  Zee  were  covered  with  vessels 
of  every  sort  and  size.  The  amphibious  population  of  Hol- 
land was  in  a  state  of  delirious  exultation  on  account  of  this 
national  triumph.  Moreover,  too  many  were  dangerously 
excited  with  strong  potations  in  honour  of  the  republic  ;  and 
under  such  stimulus  they  rushed  about  in  their  various  craft, 
without  any  observance  of  the  laws  of  the  nautical  highway. 
Frederic,  having  visited  Amsterdam,  was  returning  with  his 
son  by  the  passage-boat  through  the  frost-fog  of  the  dismal 
evening,  when,  as  they  passed  Haarlem  Meer,  the  packet- 
boat  in  which  they  were  was  run  down  by  a  heavy  Dutch 
bark  laden  with  beer.  The  skipper  of  the  packet  swam 
after  the  vessel,  which  was  escaping,  and  called  out  "to 
save  the  King  of  Bohemia,  who  was  on  board."  A  cable 
was  then  thrown  out,  on  which  Frederic  gained  the  other 
vessel.  The  poor  young  Prince  climbed  to  the  mast  of  the 
sunken  packet,  and  cried  piteously,  "  Father  !  save  me, 
father ! Frozen  by  the  piercing  air,  his  voice  was  soon 
silenced  by  death  ;  his  body  was  not  found  until  the  next 
morning;  his  poor  cheek  was  congealed  by  the  ice,  and 
resting  peacefully  against  the  mast  to  which  he  still  clung.^ 

^  MS.  News-letter,  British  Museum— Pory  to  Rev.  J.  Mead. 
2  News-letter— Beaulieu  to  Sir  T.  Puckering,  January  21, 1625-29— MS. 
British  Museum,  and  HoweU's  Letters,  p.  176. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


135 


At  the  time  lie  thus  perished,  Henry  was  the  next  heir- 
male  to  the  throne  of  Great  Britain,  and  he  was  the  third 
Henry  of  his  race  occupying  that  position  whose  life  had 
ended  In  the  morning  of  their  days — the  two  former  being 
his  great-grandfather,  Henry  Lord  Darnley,  and  his  uncle, 
Henry  Prince  of  Wales. 

Frederic,  the  wretched  parent  of  the  drowned  boy,  had 
heard  his  piercing  cries,  but  was  unable  to  obtain  succour 
for  him  of  the  drunken  and  stupid  crew  which  had  run  them 
down.  He  declared  those  cries  would  never  leave  him,  and 
that  he  should  hear  them  ring  on  his  ear  to  the  last  hour  of 
his  life.  But  who  was  to  tell  the  bereaved  mother  this 
hideous  accident  ?  Three  weeks  had  not  elapsed  since  the 
birth  of  her  fourth  daughter  Charlotte,  and  she  still  kept 
her  chamber  In  more  delicate  health  than  usual  on  such  occa- 
sions. Her  husband  was  carried  to  his  bed  in  unspeakable 
agonies  of  mind  and  body,  and  the  task  fell  on  the  English 
Ambassador  at  the  Hague,  her  Intimate  friend,  the  Earl  of 
Carlisle.  Whatsoever  skill  he  used,  the  calamity  nearly 
cost  poor  Elizabeth  her  life.  Probably  she  never  learned 
the  worst  of  the  casualty,  that  her  poor  boy's  life  was  sac- 
rificed to  the  drunkenness,  stupidity,  and  want  of  presence 
of  mind  of  those  about  him.  She  was  at  that  time  so  very 
poor  that  her  distress  was  aggravated  by  the  Impossibility 
of  interring  the  young  Prince  suitably  to  his  rank.  Her 
appeal  to  her  pitying  brother  Charles  I.  was  not  in  vain. 
Distressed  as  he  already  was,  he  pawned  his  personal  jewels 
to  send  her  an  immediate  supply  of  c£^1000,  and  the  young 
Prince's  corpse  was  interred  in  the  Cloister  Church  at  the 
Hague.-^  Charles  I.  continued  the  income  of  e£^2000  which 
he  had  allowed  his  eldest  nephew  to  the  next  brother, 
Charles  Louis,  and  enlarged  his  pension  to  the  rest  of  the 
family.  The  Court  of  England  assumed  mourning  for  the 
death  of  young  Henry,  and  the  whole  people  followed 
its  example.  Great  blame  was  thrown  on  Frederic  in 
England  for  his  parsimony  In  going  by  the  packet,  which, 
indeed,  does  not  seem  the  most  blamable  part  of  his  con- 

^  News-letter — Beaulieu  to  Sir  T.  Puckering,  January  21,  1625-29 — MS. 
British  Museum,  and  Howell's  Letters,  p.  176. 


136 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


duct.  But  the  national  pride  was  much  offended  that  the 
next  heir-male  of  Great  Britain  should  have  met  with  his 
death  in  so  commonplace  a  manner ;  and  the  fact  that  the 
princes  could  enter  such  a  conveyance  has  been  denied, 
yet  it  seems  the  simple  truth. 

From  the  period  of  this  sad  event  the  health  of  Elizabeth's 
consort  was  gradually  undermined  by  regret;  the  remem- 
brance of  his  miserably  lost  child  deprived  him  of  his  sleep, 
and  seemed  never  to  be  effaced  from  his  mind.    As  for 
Elizabeth,  she  soon  regained  her  spirits,  being  probably  un- 
aware of  the  agonising  facts  which  preyed  on  the  mind  of 
her  hapless  partner;  but  the  chief  of  her  correspondence, 
and  that  of  her  consort,  with  her  brother  Charles  during  the 
rest  of  the  year,  consists  of  supplications  for  money,  and  of 
representations  of  w^ants  and  debts.    Nothing  can  be  more 
tedious  and  dispiriting  to  read  than  such  letters.  Charles 
was  most  willing  to  aid  his  beloved  sister  and  her  family. 
The  great  personal  attachment  of  this  brother  and  sister 
survived  the  political  circumstances,  so  adverse  to  human 
affection,  in  which  they  were  placed.  From  his  own  distress 
he  spared  many  large  sums  for  the  relief  of  his  sister  and  her 
lord.^    Constant  complaints,  however,  pervade  their  corre- 
spondence, that  the  rapacity  of  the  agents  through  whom 
they  were  transmitted,  intercepted  or  impaired  these  sup- 
plies.    Nevertheless  Charles  and  Elizabeth  continued  to 
love  each  other  ;  although  she  was  the  idol  of  the  Calvinist 
party  in  Great  Britain,  set  up  most  invidiously  against  her 
brother  and  his  children.    Charles  imputed  no  fault  to  his 
sister,  however  proVokingly  these  circumstances  might  annoy 
him.    What  became  of  the  rich  legacy  left  her  by  her 
husband's  uncle,  Maurice,  Prince  of  Orange,  it  is  not  easy 
to  ascertain  ;  but  this  is  certain,  that  Eh'zabeth's  profuse 
generosity,  combined  with  the  number  of  her  followers,  and 
retainers  hanging  on  her  bounty,  would  have  dissipated 
wealth  five  times  as  much  as  she  obtained  from  the  plate 
galleons. 

The  warlike  Maurice,  Prince  of  Orange,  Stadtholder  of 

*  Domestic  Correspondence— State  Pcaper  Office,  from  1626  to  1630. 
Likewise  Holland  Correspondence — Ibid. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


137 


Holland,  bad  been  succeeded  by  his  brother  Henry/  the 
younger  son  of  the  great  William,  surnaraed  the  Deliverer. 
Thus  a  brother  of  Juliana  of  Nassau,  the  mother  of  Eliza- 
beth's husband,  still  guided  the  powers  of  Holland.  This 
Stadtholder  Henry^  was  a  great  soldier,  not  inferior  to  his 
warlike  brother  and  father.  Maurice,  it  is  supposed,  sunk 
under  the  failure  of  the  Calvinist  struggle  against  Spain, 
but  the  great  booty  gained  repeatedly  by  the  fleets  of  Hol- 
land from  the  plate  ships  of  Spain  had  inspired  his  succes- 
sor with  new  spirit,  and  moreover  supplied  the  Dutch  with 
the  sinews  of  war.  In  1629  the  Stadtholder  Henry  began 
molesting  the  Spanish  provinces  of  the  Netherlands.  Fre- 
deric assisted  him,  and  Elizabeth  came  from  Ehenen  to  wit- 
ness the  surrender  of  the  town  of  Bois-le-Duc,  the  first  fruits 
of  their  uncle's  campaign.  It  received  honourable  terms; 
and,  placed  advantageously,  she  had  the  pleasure,  one  Sep- 
tember afternoon,  of  beholding  the  exit  of  the  Spanish 
garrison,  guarding  their  sick  and  wounded,  and  moreover 
all  the  monks  and  nuns.  As  this  curious  procession  defiled 
out  of  one  gate  of  Bois-le-Duc  the  Dutch  troops  marched  in 
at  the  other.3  Elizabeth  was  treated  as  the  heroine  of  the 
day  in  the  triumphant  entry.  But  she  dearly  paid  for  this 
pleasure  by  catching  a  camp  fever  in  the  long-besieged 
town,  and,  after  very  severe  medical  treatment,  was  forced 
to  retreat  to  Rhenen.  She,  as  usual,  wintered  at  the  Hague, 
a  place  of  abode  endured  impatiently  by  the  tortured  mind 
of  Frederic,  the  failure  of  whose  health  now  became  the  fre- 
quent subject  of  the  English  Ambassador's  despatches. 
Nevertheless,  during  the  winter  of  1630,  a  new  champion 
for  the  Protestant  cause,  it  was  whispered  in  Europe,  was 
about  to  take  the  field,  as  intrepid  as  Elizabeth's  lost  cousin 
Christian  of  Brunswick,  and  far  more  skilful  and  prudent. 
This  was  the  King  of  Sweden,  Gustavus  Adolphus. 

Full  of  hope,  Elizabeth  accompanied  her  dejected  consort 
to  their  little  hunting-seat  at  Rhenen,  near  Utrecht.  The 

1  Atlas  Geographique,  1711,  vol.  i.  p.  802,  which  gives  an  excellent  com- 
pendium of  the  History  of  the  Dutch  Republic. 

2  His  name  was  Frederic  Henry,  but  he  was  usually  called  by  the  last 
name. 

3  Sir  Dudley  Carleton's  Letters  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  June  1629. 


138 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


unfortunate  Frederic  greatly  preferred  a  residence  there, 
with  the  amusements  of  hunting,  gardening,  and  farming, 
to  his  sojourn  at  the  Hague.  A  great  city  Is  always  de- 
testable/' he  was  wont  to  say ;  ^'  but  of  all  canaille,  defend 
me  from  the  canaille  of  the  Hague  !  ''^  This  detestation  of 
the  Hague  evidently  arose  from  a  rather  droll  incident. 
One  of  the  Calvlnlst  preachers  having  publicly  taken  to  task 
both  the  King  and  Queen  of  Bohemia,  for  having  danced  at 
a  mask  on  a  Shrove  Tuesday,  whilst  the  whole  republic  of 
Holland  were  in  mourning  and  lamentation  for  some  disaster 
regarding  a  siege,  Frederic,  who  was  no  reveller  either  by 
taste  or  education,  rose  and  contradicted  the  preacher,  as 
to  his  own  share  in  the  reprobated  caperlngs.  But  the 
preacher  of  course  had  the  best  of  It  In  his  own  pulpit ; 
the  King  remained  disdainful  and  Indignant.  Yet  his  ex- 
pression concerning  canaille  was  ungrateful  to  the  Dutch 
people,  to  whom  he  and  his  family  owed  many  benefits, 
since,  without  the  co-operation  of  this  despised  canaille,  small 
could  have  been  the  aid  of  his  valiant  uncles  the  Stadtholders 
Maurice  and  Henry. 

Elizabeth  entirely  regained  her  health  at  Rhenen  ;  and 
though  she  again  expected  to  increase  her  already  numerous 
family,  her  hunting  was  as  indefatigable  as  if  the  daily  meat 
of  the  royal  table  depended  on  her  success.  I  think  I 
was  born  for  the  chase,''  she  says  in  one  of  her  letters,  "  for 
I  never  had  better  health  in  my  life."  She  was  forced  to 
leave  this  favourite  retreat  for  the  Hague,  on  account  of 
her  approaching  accouchement.  Her  journey  was  made 
within  ten  days  of  the  birth  of  her  twelfth  child,  Sophia,  her 
fifth  daughter,  who  was  born  October  13,  1630,  at  the 
Hague.  The  recovery  of  the  royal  mother  was  rapid, 
luckily  for  herself,  as  she  needed  strength  to  endure  the 
double  affliction  of  the  death  of  her  little  daughter  Charlotte, 
then  about  twenty  months  old,  and  the  dangerous  illness  of 
her  husband,  whose  indifference  to  life  aggravated  the  pul- 
monary disease  that  pursued  hlm.^  "The  little  Madame 
Charlotte,"  as  Sir  Henry  Vane  (then  one  of  the  diplo- 


^  Carleton's  Ambassades,  1630. 


Benger. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


139 


raatists  at  the  Hague)  calls  lier,  had  been  in  a  decline  from 
her  birth  ;  she  was  buried  by  the  side  of  her  brother  Henry, 
in  the  Jacobite  Cloister  Church  at  the  Hague.^ 

Before  Frederic  and  Elizabeth  left  the  Hague  forRhenen, 
they  received  affronts,  on  the  sore  point  of  their  regality, 
from  Caesar  de  Vendome,  son  of  Henry  IV.  and  the  fair 
Gabrielle.  He  could  not  pay  them  a  state  visit,  though  he 
would,  he  declared,  "  if  his  own  will  was  consulted,  give 
Elizabeth  the  honours  of  an  empress/'  Vendome  could  do 
no  otherwise  without  declaring  war  on  his  own  country, 
which  did  not  acknowledge  the  Bohemian  kingship.  He 
tendered  a  friendly  visit  by  calling  at  ten  in  the  morning, 
when  neither  Frederic  nor  Elizabeth  were  out  of  bed.  A^en- 
dome  was  half-brother  to  Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  and  the 
only  great  man  that  had  sprung  from  the  royal  hero  of 
France.  He  was  charged  from  Richelieu  with  a  private 
mission  of  alliance  with  Gustavus  Adolphus.  It  had  been 
but  wisdom  if  the  dethroned  potentates  had  met  him  on  the 
safe  ground  of  incognitoship.  But  Frederic,  if  not  very 
stubborn  in  storm  and  siege,  was  utterly  inflexible  in  mat- 
ters of  etiquette  ;  therefore  Elizabeth  wrote  civilly  to  the 
Duke  de  Vendome,  representing  that,  as  they  were  depart- 
ing for  their  hunting-seat  on  the  Rhenen,  their  servants  and 
baggage  being  actually  gone,  she  could  not  conveniently 
receive  him.  Elizabeth's  secretary,  Francis  Nethersole,  by 
whose  diplomacy  this  affair  had  been  guided,  wrote  to  the 
English  Ambassador,  Lord  Dorchester,  complaints  of  the 
French  resident  at  the  Hague,  M.  de  Hauterive,  to  whose 
malice  prepense  he  attributed  tlie  conduct  of  Vendome  ;  as 
if  either  could  act  in  defiance  of  the  instructions  of  their 
government,  and  such  a  governor  withal  as  Cardinal  Riche- 
lieu. His  queenly  mistress,''  he  said,  "  had  the  least  ten- 
dency to  revenge  of  any  lady  in  the  world,  yet  the  dis- 
placing of  the  French  Ambassador  at  the  Hague  would 
be  acceptable  to  her,  if  Dorchester  could  add  such  very 
acceptable  service  to  all  he  had  previously  rendered,"  de- 
claring moreover    that  the  desire  of  righting  the  wrongs 

^  Vane's  MS.  Letter — Harleian  Collection. 


140 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


of  her  consort  was  as  stirring  a  passion  in  her  mind  as 
revenge  in  most  of  her  sex/'  ^ 

The  extraordinary  change  of  policy  which  led  France  to 
seek  alliance  with  the  Lutheran  champion,  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus,  and,  in  fact,  to  hire  his  services  against  the  Emperor 
of  Germany  and  the  King  of  Spain,  led  to  the  recall  of  the 
ambassador,  De  Hauterive,  greatly  to  the  exultation  of 
Nethersole,  who,  with  the  sapience  of  the  fly  on  the  wheel, 
imagined  that  his  potent  epistle  had  vindicated  his  royal 
lady. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  son  of  Charles  Vasa  (afterwards  King 
of  Sweden),  had  been  educated  in  the  school  of  adversity, 
as  the  youngest  grandson  of  a  king  who  had  achieved  his 
own  royalty,  the  son  of  a  younger  son,  struggling  against 
his  Roman  Catholic  elder  brother  and  nephew,  John  and 
Sigismund,  who  united  for  a  time  the  crowns  of  Sweden 
and  Poland.  In  early  life  Gustavus  Adolphus  made  the 
tour  of  Europe  on  foot,  learning  languages,  and  graduating 
at  more  than  one  university.  Some  say,  indeed,  that  he 
crossed  the  Alps  of  Switzerland  with  his  wallet  at  his  back, 
like  a  poor  student  on  the  tramp,  and  studied  at  Padua. 
After  his  father  had  routed  his  Catholic  kin,  and  become 
King  of  Sweden  on  the  Lutheran  interest,  and  the  poor  student 
was  elder  son  of  a  sovereign,  the  hand  of  Elizabeth  Stuart 
had  been  earnestly  craved  for  him,  but  refused  by  her  father. 
Her  uncle,  the  King  of  Denmark,  Christian  IV.,  prevented 
an  alliance  so  desirable  for  her.  After  Gustavus  Adolphus 
was  on  his  native  throne,  he  sustained  six  years  of  very 
doubtful  struggles,  during  which  time  his  hardy  troops  were 
educated  to  conquest.  He  had,  when  his  royal  authority  was 
secure,  strengthened  himself  by  Protestant  alliances.  He  had 
given  his  sister,  Catherine  Vasa,  in  marriage  to  the  Duke  des 
Deuxponts,  the  near  relative  of  the  King  of  Bohemia,  and 
had  himself  married  another  close  connection  of  the  Palatine 
house,  Eleanora  of  Brandenburg,  whose  brother,  George 
William,  Marquis  of  Brandenburg,  had  married  Frederic's 
sister.  Indeed,  Frederic  himself  had  proposed  and  promoted 
the  marriage  of  his  cousin  Eleanora  with  Gustavus  Adolphus. 
'  Carleton's  Despatches—Additional  MSS.,  British  Museum. 


ELIZABETH  STUAUT. 


141 


Unfortunately  no  great  happiness  attended  the  high  con- 
tracting parties. 

One  symptom  of  more  promising  fortunes  occurred  when 
Ehzabeth  and  Frederic  returned  from  Rhenen  to  the  Hague. 
Yendome,  who  had  visited  his  sister  Henrietta  Maria  in  Eng- 
land,  had  just  arrived  there  on  his  return.  He  found  it  requi- 
site to  atone  for  his  previous  neglect.  Amelia,  Princess  of 
Orange,  the  loving  friend  of  the  Palatine  family,  alleviated 
the  embarrassment  under  which  the  son  of  Henry  IV. 
laboured,  with  womanly  tact.  She  took  him  with  her  when 
she  visited  Elizabeth,  and  all  previous  misunderstandings 
were  speedily  arranged  to  general  satisfaction.  Just  at 
this  time  all  the  contemporary  news-letters  are  full  of 
gibberish  of  gallantry  concerning  the  personal  devotion 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus  to  the  Queen  of  Bohemia — a  sort 
of  re-echoing  of  the  fine  speeches  and  Quixotic  professions 
of  her  cousin,  Christian  of  Brunswick.  Some  modern  writers 
have  given  us  reason  to  suppose  that  Gustavus  Adolphus 
was  quite  the  knight  of  the  lance  devoted  to  Elizabeth.  The 
matter  of  fact  is,  they  never  met  in  the  course  of  their  lives. 

The  battle  of  Leipsic,  fought  in  the  summer  of  1631,  and 
triumphantly  won  by  Gustavus  Adolphus,  was  followed  bv 
successes  so  rapid  that  most  of  the  Lower  Palatinate,  with 
many  other  of  the  Rhenish  cities,  were  in  possession  of  the 
Swedes  by  the  end  of  the  campaign.  Of  course  Frederic 
and  Elizabeth  supposed  their  own  self-appointed  champion 
meditated  nothing  less  than  their  speedy  restoration  at  least 
to  the  hereditary  dominions  of  the  Palatinate.  In  this  hope 
Frederic,  although  neither  very  strong  in  health  or  pugna- 
cious in  spirit,  armed  him  for  the  fray,  accepting  thankfully 
whatsoever  assistance  his  good  uncle,  Henry  of  Orange,  and 
his  well-disposed  Dutchmen,  would  bestow.  They  gave 
him,  towards  the  expenses  of  his  campaign,  about  ^4000, 
and  £800  for  his  personal  expenses.  His  warlike  uncle, 
Henry  of  Orange,  the  Stadtholder,  was  at  the  head  of  a 
well-appointed  army  of  five  thousand  men,  severely  trained 
in  the  wars  of  his  brother  Maurice."     His  part  of  the 

1  Carleton's  Despatches — Additional  MSS.,  British  Museum. 
-  Atlas  Geographique. 


142 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


war  was  to  make  incursions  with  sap  and  siege  on  the 
frontier  cities  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  governed  by  the 
Archduchess  Isabel,  from  whom,  in  that  very  campaign,  he 
speedily  took  Venloo,  Euremonde,  and  Maestricht.  Hitherto 
the  defence  of  Protestant  Europe  had  been  sustained,  almost 
since  the  liberation  of  Holland,  by  the  Calvinists,  most 
gallantly,  but  with  fearful  inequality  of  force.  A  thousand 
atrocities  had  been  committed  by  the  belligerents  on  both 
sides,  in  which  the  Roman  Catholics,  as  infinitely  the  strong- 
est in  physical  force,  were  the  least  excusable. 

Elizabeth  was  still  confined  to  her  chamber  at  the  Hague, 
having,  January  2, 1632,  given  birth  to  her  thirteenth  child, 
a  son,  whom  she  insisted  on  naming  Gustaf,  after  the  Swedish 
champion,^  Her  husband  bade  her  a  tender  farewell  a  few 
days  afterwards;  full  of  hope  and  high  spirits,  she  little 
anticipated  that  it  would  be  his  last.  She  saw  nothing  worse 
before  her  than  their  speedy  restoration  to  their  beautiful 
Ehenish  dominions.  Frederic  was  observed  to  bid  farewell 
with  peculiar  tenderness  to  the  little  Sophia,  then  more  than 
two  years  old,  whose  liveliness  and  infant  charms  had  often 
wiled  away  his  devouring  melancholy.^  At  Leyden  Fre- 
deric tarried  to  take  leave  of  his  elder  boys,  who  were 
pursuing  their  studies  at  the  celebrated  college  there.  He 
witnessed  the  examination  of  the  young  Leyden  students, 
among  whom  he  saw  his  sons  Charles  and  Rupert^  contend 
for  pre-eminence  in  a  style  which  proved  that  they  had 
pursued  no  royal  road  to  learning.  Frederic  gave  them 
his  embraces  and  paternal  benedictions  before  he  went 
forth  to  the  war,  all  parties  being  in  blessed  unconscious- 
ness that  it  was  the  last  time  the  father  and  his  sons  looked 
in  each  other's  faces.  After  this  sojourn  with  his  young 
princes,  Frederic  proceeded  with  his  uncle  Henry  of  Orange 
to  Rhenen,  where  they  rested.  He  went  to  Wesel  the  next 
day,  where  his  uncle  the  Prince  of  Orange  took  leave  of 
him,  and  he  journeyed  towards  Gustavus  Adolphus,  then  in 
winter  quarters  at  Frankfort;  for  this  was  the  middle  of 
January  1631-32. 

Elizabeth  tarried  for  safety  at  the  Hague ;  the  Rhenen 

^  French  Gazette  L'Etoile.  -  Benger.  ^  Ibid. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


143 


was  no  safe  abode  for  her,  when  the  Rhine  was  in  arms. 
Once  in  the  preceding  war,  it  was  well  remembered,  she 
had  had  to  ride  for  her  life  when  her  hunting  led  her  beyond 
the  bounds  of  safety.^  The  superintendence  of  the  education 
of  her  children,  then  rapidly  advancing  in  growth  and  intel- 
lect, was  her  chief  employment.  Many  glimpses  of  the  family 
group  are  reflected  from  her  letters  by  those  of  her  loving 
husband,  who  confided  to  her  his  hopes  and  fears  in  a  cor- 
respondence from  the  seat  of  war,  partly  in  cipher.^  He  tells 
her  that  the  inhabitants  of  Hanau  came  out  to  welcome  him 
with  many  "  vivats  for  the  King  of  Bohemia.  There  he 
was  met  by  the  English  envoy,  the  old  diplomat  Sir  Henry 
Vane,  who  was  ambassador  from  Charles  I.  to  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  much  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  Swedish  hero. 
The  heavy  baggage  with  which  Frederic  was  encumbered 
had  all  stuck  in  the  mud,  owing  to  the  winter  rains.  What- 
soever was  in  this  long  train  of  carriages,  his  personal  pre- 
parations for  his  campaign  were  moderate.  He  took  with 
him  but  his  wearing  apparel,  his  writing-desk,  eight  cases  of 
books,  a  folio  of  maps,  a  portrait  of  his  wife  and  of  his  mother, 
and  a  camp  dinner-service,  not  of  plate,  but  of  pewter.  One 
German  elwagen  would  have  carried  these,  and  much  more. 
The  chief  part  of  his  caravan  remained  for  extrication  by  the 
patient  labour  of  German  cattle.  Frederic  waited  for  them 
with  equal  patience  several  days,  and  it  was  as  late  as  Feb- 
ruary 10  when  he  made  his  entry  into  Frankfort  in  solemn 
state,  with  his  forty  coaches  complete  in  number.  If  they 
were  meant  to  make  a  remarkable  impression  on  the  Swed- 
ish hero,  the  intent  was  lost,  for  he  was  at  Hochst,  a  country- 
seat  some  little  way  off,  with  the  Queen  of  Sweden.^  Fre- 
deric went  thither  next  morning,  accompanied  by  Lord 
Craven  and  twenty  cavaliers.  He  was  received  with  royal 
honours  by  the  King  and  Queen  of  Sweden.  They  dined 
together,  Gustavus  Adolphus  giving  his  guest  the  right 

1  State  Papers — Holland  Correspondence. 

2  Printed  in  the  Bromley  Letters,  which  came  into  the  possession  of  Sir 
George  Bromley  by  his  descent  from  an  illegitimate  daughter  of  Prince 
Rupert,  third  son  of  Frederic  and  Elizabeth.  Some  mistakes  are  apparent 
in  these  collections.  James  I.  is  placed  in  action  five  or  six  years  after  he 
was  at  rest.  ^  Ibid. 


144 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


hand,  and  entertaining  him  with  details  of  his  own  great 
victory  at  Lelpsic,  a  little  tendency  to  gasconade  being  by 
no  means  contrary  to  the  humour  of  the  ilkistrious  Swede. 
He  had  indulged,  when  he  first  invited  Frederic  to  the  field, 
in  a  sarcasm  on  the  unfitness  of  a  brother-in-law  of  the  King 
of  Great  Britain  joining  him  with  no  greater  equipage  than 
his  doublet  and  hose,  which  was  more  expressive  of  his  dis- 
appointment of  subsidies  and  armies  from  Charles  I.  than 
meant  for  a  sneer  at  the  penury  of  the  exiled  Prince.  But 
this  speech  had  probably  had  the  bad  effect  of  causing  Fre- 
deric to  encumber  himself  with  the  heavy  caravan  of  coaches 
with  which  he  had  crept  from  the  Hague  and  entered  Frank- 
fort. It  was  not  very  easy  to  follow  the  mercurial  tem- 
per of  the  royal  Swede.  Sometimes  he  delivered  a  sermon 
at  dinner  in  the  style  of  the  Calvinist  divines.  Such  he  used 
to  hold  forth  to  his  troops,  preaching  from  the  saddle  as 
well  as  the  best : — the  godly  phase  of  the  royal  hero's  cha- 
racter being  in  accordance  with  the  religious  mission  under 
which  he  entered  Germany,  and  the  precise  tendencies  of 
Queen  Eleanora,  his  consort,  to  whom,  nevertheless,  he  was 
but  an  unfaithful  partner.  Anon  he  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
carnival,  which  he  kept  at  Frankfort  with  wild  glee  before 
he  marched  for  the  delivery  of  three  strongholds  which  yet 
remained  of  the  Palatinate  in  the  clutches  of  the  Spanish 
allies  of  the  Emperor.  The  one  mad  day  of  carnival  being 
always  entered  into  with  equal  gusto  by  Lutherans  as  by 
Roman  Catholics,  Frederic  was  seduced  by  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus  to  share  in  the  frolics  of  the  masked  ball.  He  assumed 
the  costume  of  a  Jesuit,  in  which  he  could  indulge  his  satire 
on  his  enemies,  while  Gustavus  Adolphus  took  the  disguise 
of  the  gargon  of  an  inn.i 

From  Frankfort  they  departed  to  storm  Creuznach,  one 
of  Frederic's  former  fortified  towns.  It  was  presently 
carried.  The  gallantry  of  the  English  volunteer,  Lord 
Craven,  was  so  conspicuous  when  mounting  the  wall,  that 
the  King  of  Sweden,  patting  him  merrily  on  the  shoulder, 
congratulated  him  on  his  liberality  of  giving  his  younger 
brother  a  chance  of  his  estate/'  Frederic  was  received  with 
1  Correspondence  of  Roe — State  Ptapers. 


ELIZABETH  STUAKT. 


145 


rapture  by  the  citizens  his  subjects.  He  took  care  to  tliank 
the  Enghsh  regiments  in  his  own  name  and  that  of  his  wife/ 
and  to  request  the  continuance  of  their  valiant  co-operation. 
The  dehght  with  which  Frederic's  natural  subjects  greeted 
him  of  course  made  him  exceedingly  desirous  of  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  promise  with  which  Gustavus  Adolphus  had 
lured  him  from  his  home  and  Elizabeth,  to  which  he  could 
obtain  no  direct  answer.  But  Wallenstein  mustering 
strongly,  Gustavus  re-crossed  the  Rhine,  and  again  occupied 
Frankfort  as  his  headquarters.  Here  there  was  a  great 
gathering  of  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany ;  the  dis- 
possessed King  of  Bohemia  being  treated  by  Gustavus 
Adolphus  with  distinction;  above  all,  he  caressed  him  fre- 
quently, fraternising  by  calling  him  "  mon  frere  at 
every  word.  Till  midnight,  amusements  of  cards,  dice,  and 
dance  went  on;  but  when  the  princes  and  counts,  the  Queen 
of  Sweden,  and  the  ladies,  withdrew,  Gustavus  Adolphus  and 
his  guest  often  conferred  long  and  seriously  until  three  in 
the  morning.  Frederic,  now  among  his  old  subjects,  urged 
his  ally  to  permit  him  to  levy  troops  ;  while  the  Swedish 
king  declared  "  that  would  ruin  his  own  recruiting.''  And 
here  the  inconsistency  of  making  war  on  religious  pretences 
becomes  painfully  apparent.  Gustavus  demanded  that  the 
Lutheran  religion  should  be  tolerated  when  he  surrendered 
the  Palatinate  to  its  lawful  owner,  and  this  very  reasonable 
reward  for  all  his  toils  and  conquests  Frederic  positively 
refused  to  admit.  Frederic,  as  the  pensioned  refugee  of 
Holland,  where  he  had  left  Elizabeth  and  her  little  ones 
in  the  very  stronghold  of  Calvinism,  was  forced  to  view 
this  request  of  the  Swedish  king  in  the  light  his  Dutch 
patrons  would  wish. 

The  deep  dejection  which  often  pervades  the  letters  of  the 
unfortunate  Frederic  to  his  beloved  Elizabeth,  evidently  arose 
from  the  extinction  of  hope  as  to  the  issue  of  the  contest. 
The  commencement  of  that  written  March  8th,  old  style,^ 
and  beginning  in  cipher,  is  addressed  to  Elizabeth  as  usual, 

^  Monro's  Narrative  of  the  Expedition,  &c. 
«  Bromley  Letters— De  Lorce,  March  8/18,  1632. 
VOL.  VIII.  K 


146 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Mon  tres  cher  coeur,''  He  tells  her  how  he  safely  received 
her  letter  when  marching  between  Lorce  and  AschafFenburg 
with  the  King  of  Sweden,  who  continued  to  treat  him  hon- 
ourably, but  positively  refused  to  let  him  raise  troops  In  his 
own  Palatinate.  He  could  not  Imagine  why  the  King  of 
Sweden  wished  him  to  come,  and  that  he  had  much  better 
have  staid  at  the  Hague/'  Frederic  continues  to  Inform 
Elizabeth  that  he  follows  the  Swedish  conqueror,  who  was 
in  full  march  to  overthrow  Count  Tilly,  in  the  unhappy 
state  of  a  volunteer.  Then,  dismissing  the  painful  subject 
of  politics,  he  enters  Into  reply  of  her  last  letter,  and  a  little 
family  gossip.  Elizabeth  wanted  purchases  made  at  Frank- 
fort fair;  but  her  husband  cannot  buy  her  the  stuff  she  re- 
quired, for  the  fair  commenced  not  until  after  the  march  of 
the  Swedish  army.  Then  he  gives  Elizabeth  a  little  criti- 
cism on  the  persons  of  the  ladles.  "  The  Landgravine  of 
Hesse-Darmstadt,  his  first  cousin.  Is  not  disagreeable  In 
person ;  but  as  to  real  grand  beauty,  I  have  seen  none 
on  my  travels.  As  for  my  brother's  wife,  she  can  even 
be  termed  ugly;  but  she  Is  a  truly  good  woman."  These 
princesses  had  been  to  the  Swedish  Court  at  Steinau, 
but  how  they  returned  he  cannot  tell ;  for  how  ladles 
could  go  about  near  the  seat  of  war  passes  his  compre- 
hension, and  that  leads  to  this  comment  on  Elizabeth^s 
wish  of  joining  him  : — 

"  You  need  not  fear,  as  soon  as  I  could  do  it  with  safety.  I  am  asked  why 
I  send  not  for  you  to  this  country,  but  truth  to  say,  of  that  as  yet  I  see  little 
likelihood.  If  a  battle  was  given,  it  might  be  talked  of — God  be  pleased, 
if  it  comes  to  that,  all  might  go  well.  Yesterday  we  had  a  long  march 
among  mountains,  that  is  why  we  repose  here  to-day.  I  hav^  written  to 
you,  and  to  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Orange,  by  Count  de  Solms.  He 
waited  to  hear  of  my  arrival,  for  what  he  has  to  deliver  to  you.  Good 
M.  de  Plessin  is  happy  to  be  dead.  I  wish  I  could  have  some  one  who  was 
capable  about  the  children.  I  know  not  if  you  think  that  Boniqua  is  fit ; 
but  although  he  is  a  Lutheran — having  nothing  to  do  with  their  studies — 
that  would  not  matter  much.  I  am  very  glad  that  Morgan  is  so  gallant 
and  gay,  and  that  he  acquits  himself  so  well  of  his  charge.  If  he  were  with 
me,  would  he  not  swear  rarely  1  I  will  answer  for  that,  and  drink  withal 
your  health  very  often  in  the  good  wine  of  Ai.  I  am  astonished  that  he  is 
still  lovingly  disposed.^ 


^  Bromley  Letters— De  Lorce,  March  8/18,  1632. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


147 


Then  follows  a  mystical  bewailing  in  cipher  on  the  failure 
of  Charles  I.  to  send  him  what  he  had  not  for  himself — money 
to  pay  the  Swedes  ;  and  he  concludes : — 

"  The  clanger  of  the  roads  is  such  that  I  dare  not  write  all  ;  but  I  entreat 
you  to  believe  that  whilst  I  live  I  shall  never  be  other  than,  my  dear  only 
heart,  your  faithful  friend  and  most  affectionate  servitor, 

"  Frederic."  ^ 

Elizabeth's  answer  to  him  is  not  forthcoming,  but  the  re- 
flection of  it  may  be  seen  in  her  epistles  to  the  British  en- 
voy, Vane.  Of  him  Frederic,  throughout  his  whole  corre- 
spondence, manifests  the  worst  opinion,  earnestly  affirming 
that  his  primary  object  was  to  affront  the  King  of  Sweden, 
and  make  mischief  between  him  and  his  brother-in-law 
Charles  I.  Frederic  attributes  this  propensity  to  personal 
hatred  of  himself.  But  that  was  not  the  case.  He,  as  the 
ostensible  head  of  the  Calvinists,  would  actually  have  been 
the  highest  in  the  regard  of  Sir  Henry  Vane,  the  elder, 
whose  enmity  was  to  the  toleration  Gustavus  Adolphus 
extended  to  the  Eoman  Catholics,  and  the  firm  footing  on 
which  he  wished  to  establish  the  Lutherans  on  the  Rhine. 
If  Charles  I.  and  Gustavus  Adolphus  were  on  too  friendly 
terms,  the  ends  of  Sir  Henry  Vane's  party  would  not  have 
been  answered.  Elizabeth,  who  was  used  to  speak  of  this 
double-minded  envoy  as  the  "  fat  man  "  in  her  letters  to 
other  people,  began  her  epistles  to  him  with  Honest 
Harry."  2 

"  The  Hague,  April  5/15,  1632. 
"  I  hope  these  letters  by  Home  will  pass  to  you,  as  well  as  my  little 
monkey  did  to  me." 

This  monkey  was  a  human  one — her  favourite  page  of 
honour,  the  brave  Sir  Jacob  Astley,  who  had  served  her  from 
a  tender  age,  ever  since  her  departure  from  England,  and 
now  had  departed  with  her  consort  to  learn  experience  in 
the  wars  of  Gustavus  Adolphus. 

He  [Home]  can  tell  you  all  the  news  of  England,  en  matiere  des  dames, 
and  of  the  Hague.  The  Prince  of  Orange  [Henry  the  Stadtholder]  is  pre- 
paring to  go  to  the  field,  and  most  of  his  officers  are  come.  His  old  Grace 
[Lennox]  is  here,  and  saith  that  his  gracious  aunt  the  Duchess  of  Richmond 


1  Bromley  Letters—De  Lorce,  March  8/18,  1632.     ^  state-Paper  MS. 


148 


ELIZABETH  STUABT. 


will  come  to  see  me,  with  all  her  white  sticks.  She  doth  write  so  to  me 
herself ;  but  I  confess  I  do  not  believe  her.  We  look  for  my  Lady  Strange 
every  day,  and  my  wise  widow." 

This  was  Madame  la  Comtesse  de  Loewenstein,  belong- 
ing to  a  younger  branch  of  the  Palatine  princes.  She  had 
succeeded  Amelia  de  Solms  in  her  state  attendance.  She 
was  a  faithful  friend  to  Elizabeth,  yet  so  full  of  pompous 
absurdity  as  to  be  the  butt  of  all  the  young  princes  of  the 
Palatine  family.^  Elizabeth's  expected  guest,  "  with  the 
white  staves/'  was  the  widow  of  her  father's  kinsman,  the 
Duke  of  Eichmond,  as  great  an  oddity,  who,  beginning  life 
as  a  beautiful  but  impoverished  lady  of  the  house  of  Howard, 
by  marrying  Frank  Prannel,  the  heir  of  a  rich  city  vintner, 
went  mad  with  pride  on  obtaining  great  wealth,  and  finally 
an  alliance  with  royalty.  The  distressed  Queen  of  Bohemia 
had  more  than  once  tasted  her  bounty,  although  not  to  the 
amount  the  boastful  old  dowager  pretended.  Perhaps  it  was 
not  very  prudent  to  trust  the  treacherous  diplomat  Vane 
with  this  fling  at  her  white-staffed  retinue;  but  prudence  was 
no  quality  of  Elizabeth,  or  she  would  not  have  wuutten  to 
^'  Honest  Harry,''  excepting  in  the  most  guarded  style  of 
ceremonial. 

"  I  hear  your  pretty  gentleman,  Mr  Gifford,  is  laid  by  the  heels/'  she 
says,  "  and  another  towards  it,  for  talking  foolishly.  I  long  to  hear  the 
end  of  your  treaty.  I  see  by  the  King's  letters  [Frederic,  her  husband] 
the  King  of  Sweden  doth  not  desire  he  should  make  levies,  saying,  '  It 
would  spoil  his  army.'  If  my  dear  brother  [Charles  I.]  would  have  been 
pleased  to  have  granted  the  King's  request  by  Kobin  Honeywood,  it 
would  have  been  better  for  him  and  your  treaty.  For  then  the  King  [her 
husband],  having  troops,  might  have  had  more  voice  in  the  chapter  than  he 
now  has,  being  but  a  volunteer,  which  is  a  very  wearisome  profession.  But 
I  hope  God  will  turn  all  to  the  best^  and  am  confident  that  you  will  still 
continue  to  do  your  best  for  him. 

I  pray  believe  me  ever,  your  most  constant  affectionate  friend, 

"  Elizabeth." 

To  Sir  Harry  Vane." 

Elizabeth,  in  her  next  despatch,  announces  to  him  the 
birth  of  a  daughter  to  their  kind  relatives,  the  Prince  and 
Princess  of  Orange,  who  had  been  wedded  six  years  without 

^  Bromley  Letters,  p.  271,  where  one  of  them  has  written  a  queer  paper 
on  her  "  Faites  "  and  *'  Gestes." 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


149 


offspring.  In  reply,  Frederic  sends  his  beloved  lively  tran- 
scripts of  all  his  hopes,  fears,  and  adventures.  The  Swedish 
array,  having  in  the  interim  destroyed  Tilly  and  his  forces, 
were  now  in  full  march  to  punish  Frederic's  inimical  cousin, 
Max,  Duke  of  Bavaria;  the  history  of  which  is  rapidly 
embodied  by  Schiller  in  Wallenstein's  magnificent  speech 
to  the  Austrian  envoys — 

 "  Beside  the  Lech  sunk  Tilly,  your  last  hope ; 

Into  Bavaria,  like  a  wintry  torrent, 
Did  that  Gustavus  pour." 

On  his  march  to  Bavaria,  Frederic  thus  wrote  to  his  wife  : — 

"  This  morning,  as  we  were  leaving  Freissingen,  I  had  the  satisfaction  of 
receiving  four  of  your  letters,  three  of  April,  and  one  of  the  2d  of  May.  I 
thank  you  much  for  the  pains  you  have  taken — writing  to  me  so  carefully. 
I  see  that  you  forget  me  not.  Believe  me,  I  think  continually  of  you. 
Very  long  it  seems,  since  I  beheld  you  ;  and  what  aflBicts  me  most  is  the 
slight  prospect  I  have  of  seeing  you  soon.  Affairs  go  ill  for  the  Palatinate. 
If  the  King  of  Sweden  could  remain  there,  with  the  aid  of  God  he  would 
soon  lower  the  pride  of  the  Spaniard."" 

Already  in  these  letters  may  be  perceived  symptoms  of 
the  political  coquetry  between  Wallenstein,  the  Imperialist 
general,  and  the  Swedes,  which  afterwards  led  to  the  death 
of  that  noted  character  at  Egra.  A  strong  reason  kept 
Wallenstein  from  proceeding  further.  His  astrologer,  Seni, 
had  foretold  to  him  that  the  good  fortune  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus  would  leave  him  in  the  ensuing  November!''^ 
When  touching  on  this  subject,  Frederic,  after  involving 
himself  in  ciphers,  to  which  his  beloved  consort  only  had 
the  key,  continues  : — 

"  I  dare  not  write  all — it  would  be  too  dangerous  ;  that  is  why  I  only 
mention  events  already  past.  The  King  of  Sweden  is  still  much  incon- 
venienced with  the  rosse  [St  Antony's  fire],  but  he  is  recovering  ;  he  can 
walk  and  mount  on  horseback.  He  is  a  brave  prince  ;  no  one  can  be  trou- 
bled with  ennui  near  him.  God  preserve  him  to  us  !  I  am  very  glad  that 
my  letters  have  arrived  so  well,  and  that  the  portraits  that  I  sent  you  by 
the  Count  de  Solms  have  given  you  pleasure.  You  are  much  obliged  to 
the  king  your  brother  [Charles  L]  for  the  cession  he  has  made  you  of  the 
heritage  of  your  grandmother."  ^ 


1  Benger. 


Bromley  Letters. 


150 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


This  was  the  personal  property  of  the  mother  of  Anne  of 
Denmark,  who  was  mother  of  Charles  I  and  Elizabeth.  She 
had  died  very  rich,  and  her  wealth  being  divided  between 
her  descendants,  Charles  I.  had  relinquished  his  portion  to 
his  distressed  sister.  Frederic  glances  somewhat  contemp- 
tuously on  the  proceedings  of  his  brother,  Louis  Philip, 
Duke  of  Simmeren,  who,  having  complied  with  the  tolera- 
tions which  Gustavus  Adolphus  chose  should  be  observed 
on  the  Rhine,  had  received  back  his  small  appanage. 

^'  I  am  not  sorry  Simmeren  is  not  with  me.  I  believe  that  he  will 
follow  the  wife  of  the  King  of  Sweden.  You  have  heard  of  the  death 
of  Count  Tillyi  and  of  the  poor  Marquis  of  Baden,  both  on  the  same 
day.  Alteringer,^  they  say,  is  there.  I  am  glad  that  I  have  enlight- 
ened thee  as  to  the  false  reports  raised.  I  wish  [and  then  he  enumer- 
ates some  ciphers  which  stand  for  his  personal  attendants]  that  these 
had  as  much  good  sense  as  fidelity  ;  I  shoiild  then  be  well  served.  I  am 
rejoiced  at  the  happy  accouchement  of  the  Princess  of  Orange  [Amelia  de 
Solms].  Tell  her  as  much  on  my  part,  and  that  I  wish  that  at  the  end  of 
a  year  she  may  be  the  mother  of  a  son.^  How  earnestly  do  I  desire  that 
but  for  one  only  day  I  could  have  the  power  of  being  in  the  circle  with 
which  you  are  surrounded  !  Tell  me,  I  entreat,  you,  whether  the  nephew 
of  him  you  know  of  is  always  in  the  same  odd  humour  as  formerly.  I  am 
astonished  that  Brutus  has  not  come  with  the  Countess  of  Loewenstein." 

Thus  Elizabeth's  wise  widow had  safely  arrived  at 
the  Hague,  but  accompanied  by  some  attendant,  four- 
footed  or  otherwise,  the  absence  of  whom  had  been  noted 
in  the  letters  Frederic  had  received  from  his  consort.  He 
proceeds  : — 

"  I  assure  you  that  I  rejoice  extremely  to  see  that  the  king  your 
brother  testifies  so  much  affection  for  you,  and  that  Nethersole  assures  me 
that  he  is  satisfied  with  me.  God  knows  that  I  should  be  grieved  to  dis- 
please him,  or  to  forget,  above  all,  the  benefits  we  have  received  from  him." 

Amidst  a  cloud  of  ciphers  regarding  the  political 
treaties  embroiled  by  Sir  Harry  Vane,  Frederic  wishes 
that  Nethersole,  the  faithful  secretary  of  Elizabeth,  was 
resident  minister  for  Charles  I.  in  his  place,  for  the  nego- 
tiation with  Gustavus  Adolphus. 

^  The  Imperialist  general  defeated  on  the  Lech.  He  had  never  prospered 
since  his  atrocious  abuse  of  his  victory  at  Magdeburg. 

^  An  Imperialist  general  familiar  to  the  readers  of  Wallenstein. 
^  She  was  so^  afterwards  :  her  son  was  the  son-in-law  of  Charles  I. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


151 


One  of  his  own  officers  had  left  him  with  a  very  bad  grace, 
yet  expected  to  step  into  some  place  vacant  in  the  Hague 
residence. 

"  But  of  this,"  pursues  Frederic,  "  I  wholly  disapprove.  A  brother 
and  sister  in  the  same  house,  of  their  humour  would  permit  nothing  to 
go  on  well.  You  would  very  soon  be  deserted,  and  you  know  not  how  he 
would  quit.  I  believe  it  would  be  better  to  leave  the  place  vacant  some 
little  time.  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  that  Rupert  is  in  your  good  graces, 
and  tliat  Charles  does  so  well — certes  they  are  thrice  dear  to  me  in  conse- 
quence. May  God  make  me  so  happy  as  to  have  the  power  of  beholding 
you  all  once  more  !  Pray,  make  my  haisemains  to  Madame  la  Princesse  de 
Bouillon  and  to  our  Queen,  Madame  Orange.  I  am  very  vexed  that  her  son 
has  not  made  his  appearance  yet  !  I  hope  by  the  time  you  receive  this  the 
Prince  of  Orange  will  be  off  on  his  campaign.  Just  as  I  wrote  this  the 
Marquess  of  Hamilton  has  arrived,  and  with  him  Home,  who  has  brought 
me  your  dear  letter.  I  have  before  seen  the  cession  of  the  King  your 
brother  [of  the  Danish  legacy].  He  testifies  for  you  much  affection  ;  much 
it  rejoices  me,  but  still  more  to  see  yours  in  your  wish  that  it  should  be 
employed  in  my  benefit.  I  know  not  how  to  thank  you  enough,  but  I 
wish  that  this  heritage  should  be  for  you  alone.  Let  it  be  put  out  at  use, 
and  with  the  income  pay  your  debts  by  instalments.  I  desire  nothing  of 
you  but  that  you  love  me  always  as  much  as  I  love  you.  No  absence,  you 
may  be  well  assured,  can  chill  my  love  for  you,  which  is  very  perfect. 
.  "  I  wish  your  daughter  might  become  very  beautiful,  and  that  I  could 
find  some  good  match  for  her.  Count  Maurice  *  will  not  be  very  well 
pleased  to  have  the  Count  of  Hanau  for  rival ;  I  think  that  neither  one 
nor  the  other  will  have  her,  but  that  Mr  Hautin  reserves  her  for  his 
son."  2 

AH  this  is  the  playfulness  in  which  the  fond  parent  in- 
dulges when  his  thoughts  rest  on  the  dear  ones  at  home. 
His  daughter,  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  was  then  advancing 
to  womanhood,  and  the  suitors  he  mentions  are  some  of 
those  ancient  ones  with  which  girls  of  thirteen  are  some- 
times joked  for  the  amusement  of  seeing  the  airs  they 
give  themselves.  By  "  Mr  Hautin he  probably  means 
Hawtayne,  as  an  English  gentleman  of  that  family  was  in 
the  service  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  at  the  Hague,  and  his 
son  afterwards  was  tutor  to  William  HI. 

In  the  course  of  this  long  family  letter,  Frederic  an- 
nounces to  Elizabeth  that  he  has  arrived  at  Munich  : — 

'  Count  Maurice  of  Nassau,  often  confounded  with  his  relative  the  cele- 
brated Prince  Maurice  the  Stadtholder. 
2  Bromley  Letters. 


152 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


"  I  am  now  come  with  the  King  of  Sweden  to  the  fine  seat  of  my  good 
cousin.  The  Marquess  of  Hamilton  admires  it  much,  saying  that  he  never 
saw  anything  more  beautiful.  He  [Max  of  Bavaria]  has  carried  off  the  best 
of  his  precious  things,  but  has  left  many  very  fine  ones  not  so  easy  to  be 
removed  :  but  even  if  that  were  the  case,  I  would  none  of  them." 

This  magnanimous  feeling  which  disdained  the  acquisi- 
tions of  the  military  plunderer  was  the  more  noble,  be- 
cause his  own  Heidelberg,  with  all  its  marvels  of  art 
and  antiquity,  had  been  mercilessly  plundered,  and  then 
left  to  the  devastating  Spaniards  by  Duke  Max.  Frederic 
was  seen  to  smile  mournfully  and  shake  his  head,  when  he 
.read  his  own  name  on  some  of  the  cannon  at  Munich, 
captured  formerly  from  Duke  Christian. 

"  The  King  of  Sweden  is  in  doubt,"  pursues  Frederic,  "  if  this  can  be 
maintained ;  as  a  military  station,  it  is  well  situated.  If  they  have  but 
time  it  might  be  made  good,  and  something  has  already  been  commenced. 
It  is  a  delicious  site,  with  every  sort  of  game,  and  convenient  for  every 
description  of  sporting.  Yesterday  I  commenced  this  letter,  I  finish  it  to 
to-day."  1 

The  improved  spirits  apparent  in  this  most  interesting 
letter  to  his  Elizabeth  were  soon  damped  in  the  mind 
of  the  unhappy  Frederic  by  the  violent  passion  his  pro- 
tector Gustavus  Adolphus  put  himself  into  at  Munich ;  but 
it  was  with  one  who  doubtless  well  deserved  it,  being  the 
diplomat  Vane.  The  royal  Swede  stormed  so  furiously  at 
this  treacherous  person  that  he  thought  it  necessary  to 
apologise  for  his  violence,  by  larnenting,  when  his  passion 
subsided,  "  that  when  irritated  something  seemed  to  rush  to 
his  head  which  took  away  all  command  over  what  he  said 
and  did  " — a  humiliating  confession  for  one  of  the  master 
intellects  of  his  day  ;  but  probably  connected  with  the 

rosse,''  or  St  Antony's  fire,  with  which  the  hero  had  been 
afflicted  in  his  march. 

"  I  am  glad  that  all  is  well  again,"  ^  wrote  Elizabeth  herself  to  Vane : 
"  I  know  that  the  King  of  Sweden  himself  is  sorry  for  it  when  his  choler 
is  past.  It  is  a  great  pity  that  he  is  so  subject  to  that,  he  hath  so  many 
other  good  parts.  I  pray  you  make  the  best  of  all.  Remember  his  good 
actions,  and  forget  his  words." 


1  Bromley.    Endorsed,  "From  Munich,  May  7/17,  1632." 

2  State-Paper  MS. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


153 


Elizabeth,  notwithstanding  the  miscliief  that  the  attack 
on  Bavaria  did  the  cause  of  her  husband  and  the  Pala- 
tinate, does  not  imitate  Frederic's  mournful  magnanimity, 
but  indulges  in  a  few  notes  of  exultation  over  the  dis- 
comfiture of  their  family  foe,  Duke  Max.  She  confesses 
that  of  all  men  she  does  not  pity  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  as 
the  King  of  Sweden  only  pays  him  In  the  coin  he  lent  us!'' 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  before  he  left  Munich,  one  day  at 
dinner  told  his  guest  the  King  of  Bohemia,  "  that  as  they 
were  dining  at  Munich,  hopes  might  be  entertained  that 
they  should  soon  sup  at  Heidelberg/'  Yet  Heidelberg  and 
Frankenthal  were  still  occupied  by  Spanish  garrisons,  and 
at  every  report  of  the  successes  of  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
the  soldiers  committed  fresh  outbursts  of  mischief.  They 
were  particularly  active  in  smashing  that  marvel  of  the 
Bohemian  glass-workers' art,  Elizabeth's  beautiful  suite  called 
the  Glasen  Salle,  at  Heidelberg,  which  had  been  finished 
with  such  care  and  cost  for  her  by  her  loving  consort. 

In  the  middle  of  June  the  Swedes  had  returned  to  the 
Rhine,  capturing  Donauwert  and  other  garrison  towns 
thereon.  In  the  midst  of  this  career  news  came  that  the 
Elector  of  Saxony  had  lost  Prague.  Away  went  Gustavus 
Adolphus  to  his  support,  and  Frederic,  in  his  letter  to 
Elizabeth  of  June  7/17,  from  Nuremberg,  announces  his 
intention  of  following  the  royal  Swede  towards  Prague — • 

to  see,"  he  says,  "  what  God  would  send  for  my  good." 
But  if  religious  politics  would  not  suffer  him  to  be  re- 
instated in  his  Palatinate,  where  his  kind  good  subjects 
were  all  yearning  to  receive  him,  anxious  withal  to  go  the 
same  way  in  religion  as  himself,  it  was  not  likely  he  could 
keep  his  seat  for  a  month  in  a  city  where  the  Lutheran  and 
the  Calvinist  hated  each  other  more  deadlily  than  they  did 
their  common  enemy  the  Roman  Catholics,  who,  moreover, 
had  the  predominance.  However,  Frederic  diverges  into  a 
much  more  pleasant  subject,  one  which  often  occurs  in  his 
letters  to  his  consort,  being  a  criticism  on  female  beauty. 

I  have  seen  here  your  cousin,  the  wife  of  Duke  Auguste  [of  Saxony]. 
I  supped  yesterday  with  her.  This  is  a  good  princess  ;  she  has  a  fine  com- 
plexion ;  as  to  the  rest  of  her  there  is  little  enough,  and  that  but  ordinary. 


154 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Just  at  this  minute  two  of  your  letters  are  come,  those  of  the  1st  and  3d 
of  June.    I  rejoice  in  the  happy  progress  of  the  Prince  of  Orange. 

Frederic  complains  of  the  arrogance  of  Vane,  and  that 
he  had  sent  him  a  most  imperious  letter,  which,  he  was  quite 
sure,  did  not  express  the  intentions  of  Charles  I/'  Then 
after  a  puzzle  of  ciphers,  the  development  of  which  would 
only  bring  the  crabbed  product  of  politics,  he  adds, — 

"  I  should  be  very  glad  to  have  the  portraits  of  my  children.  I  wish 
they  could  be  transmitted  safely  ;  until  now  the  posts  have  gone  well. 
Yesterday  I  saw  the  old  Margravine  of  Anspach,  who  is  at  Luneburg. 
Simon  serves  me  well ;  so  do  my  other  valets-de-chambre  ;  but  my  lackeys 
are  good  for  nothing.  Riches,  I  see,  come  in  quick  march  on  Cromwell;  ^ 
he  cannot  do  better  than  marry  the  widow. 

I  hope  this  journey  to  see  Madame  my  mother.*' 

That  he  never  did;  for,  in  anticipation  of  worse  times  than 
had  yet  befallen  her  family,  the  Electress  Juliana  had  with- 
drawn to  the  protection  of  the  King  of  Poland. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  had  placed  his  camp  before  Nurem- 
berg, throwing  up  trenches  to  fortify  it  as  his  headquar- 
ters. The  Swedish  queen's  ambulating  court  was  in  that 
ancient  city,  and  from  Nuremberg  the  letters  of  Frederic 
are  dated  in  the  midsummer  of  1632.^ 

"  I  have  received,"  he  writes  to  Elizabeth,  your  letter  of  July  1st,  and 
I  rejoice  to  hear  of  your  health  and  that  of  my  children.  If  the  Prince 
of  Orange  takes  Maestricht,  Spanish  affairs  will  be  in  a  bad  state.  We 
have  the  army  of  the  Duke  of  Freidland  [W^allenstein]  and  the  Duke  of 
Bavaria  very  near  us  here.  Yesterday  they  took  Swabach,  which  is  but 
two  leagues  from  us.  I  do  not  believe  they  will  attack  us  here,  the  army 
is  so  well  intrenched.  I  hope  their  army  will  waste  away  in  this  country, 
where  there  is  so  little  sustenance.  This  of  the  King  of  Sweden  augments 
on  all  sides.  Yesterday  I  w^as  with  him  as  far  as  Swabach,  with  most  of 
the  cavalry,  in  the  direction  of  the  enemy's  march.  Four  companies  were 
despatched  towards  us  ;  they  fired,  but  did  not  engage ;  so  we  returned 
without  doing  anything.  To-morrow  I  believe  they  will  come  near  us 
here.  That  renders  the  highways  very  insecure,  and  I  fear  that  your 
letters  and  mine  would  have  been  intercepted  if  Duke  Freidland  [Wallen- 
stein]  had  not  had  the  good  feeling  to  send  them  on.  I  have  always  heard 
that  he  was  esteemed  for  his  courtesy;  he  has  always  acted  thus  honourably 
towards  my  sister  the  Electress  of  Brandenburg.  This  evening  Bercka 
has  arrived  ;  he  has  been  a  long  while  on  the  road.  .  .  .  The  King  of 
Sweden  the  day  before  yesterday  broke  Colonel  Hebron,  and  has  given 


1  Not  Oliver. 


^  Bromley. 


ELIZABETH  STUAKT. 


155 


his  regiment  to  one  who  was  his  lieutenant-colonel,  who  calls  himself 
Phul.  I  am  very  sorry  for  it,  for  Hebron  *  was  a  brave  man,  though  a 
little  obstinate,  which  has  caused  this  disaster.  I  dare  not  enter  into 
particulars. 

If  the  enemy  comes,  the  battle  will  be  in  the  style  of  Amadis  de 
Gaul,  for  the  ladies  will  be  on  the  towers  to  see  how  they  combat.  The 
Marquis  de  Culmbach  with  his  eldest  son  is  arrived  here  ;  his  wife  came 
within  a  day's  journey,  but  dared  not  proceed  because  of  the  insecurity  of 
the  roads.  I  fear  that  I  shall  not  receive  the  remainder  of  my  children's 
portraits." 

No  battle  took  place.  Wallensteia  and  Duke  Max  of 
Bavaria  remained  within  a  league  of  the  Swedish  trenches, 
these  two  commanders  hating  each  other  too  much  to  join 
heartily  against  the  Swede.  Meanwhile  Wallenstein  threw 
out  many  tokens  of  good-will,  which  were  probably  meant 
for  conciliation  to  the  elect  of  his  native  country,  the  titular 
King  of  Bohemia. 

It  had  been  well  for  Frederic  if  he  had  acquired  hardi- 
hood as  a  soldier  in  some  such  campaigns  before  he  accepted, 
in  his  inexperienced  youth,  a  crown  which  required  more 
than  ordinary  human  might  to  uphold.  Amidst  his  failing 
health  and  spirits  he  now  betrays  no  pusillanimity,  although 
often  the  companion  of  the  dashing  sorties  of  the  heroic 
Swede.  He  still  writes  to  Elizabeth  from  the  trenches  be- 
fore Nuremberg.    In  his  letter  of  July  23,  he  says, — ^ 

These  slaughterings  and  burnings  please  me  not.  I  was  yesterday  at 
the  Margravine  of  Anspach  ;  there  I  saw  also  the  widow  of  Count  Hans 
Wilhelm.  I  do  not  find  her  at  all  changed.  All  these  ladies  wish  much 
to  see  you  in  Germany.  God  send  that  might  be  very  soon.  Meantime 
you  are  convinced  that  I  love  you  with  all  my  heart,  and  that  my  thoughts 
are  continually  on  you.  I  have  not  had  this  week  any  of  your  letters. 
I  fear  that  they  are  intercepted  with  the  portraits  of  my  two  girls,  whom  I 
wish  well  married." 

At  the  end  of  July,  Frederic  continues  to  write  from  the 
trenches  before  Nuremberg ;  he  still  dwells  on  the  chivalric 
friendliness  shown  by  Wallenstein,  on  whose  mysterious 
history  these  neglected  letters  cast  some  light.  Let  us  re- 
member that  that  great  war-chief  was  Bohemian  born,  and 
always  in  a  state  of  antagonism  with  the  ecclesiastics  of 


1  There  is  reason  to  suppose  that  Hebron  was  Hepburn,  a  Scotchman 
in  the  service  of  Sweden.  *  Bromley  Letters, 


156 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


the  Eoman  Catholic  Church.  Then  his  coquetries  with  the 
opposite  army  become  not  difficult  for  the  historian  to  con- 
strue, whose  mental  eye  can  steadily  view  the  present  and 
past  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  all  their  clashing  com- 
binations of  circumstance  and  character. 

Eh'zabeth  had  left  the  Hague  for  the  hunting-seat  of 
Rhenen,  where  she  betook  herself  to  hunting  as  if  for  her 
daily  sustenance.  The  camp  broke  up  before  Nuremberg, 
for  Wallenstein  moved  off  without  coming  to  blows.  In 
September,  Frankfort  was  again  the  rallying-place,  and 
Frederic  writes  from  thence  to  Eh'zabeth,  saying, — 

"  Your  dear  letter  of  the  23d  of  September  has,  happily,  reached  me  this 
morning.  I  am  glad  to  see  you  pass  your  time  so  well  at  the  chase.  Be- 
lieve me,  I  much  wish  to  be  with  you,  but  my  ill  fortune  permits  it  not 
yet.  You  will  see  by  the  paper  annexed  what  the  King  of  Sweden  has 
declared,  which  is  no  such  great  affair.  It  is  translated  from  the  Latin.  I 
am  enough  inconvenienced,  having  no  secretary/' 

From  which  it  may  be  inferred  that  Frederic  had  trans- 
lated and  transcribed  it  himself.  Latin  was  the  best  me- 
dium that  Gustavus  Adolphus  could  use  for  communication 
with  the  various  peoples  of  Europe.  As  to  Swedish,  he  might 
as  well  have  spoken  his  mind  in  Chinese. 

"  I  sent  Dingen,"  continues  Frederic,  "  to  him  [Gustavus  Adolphus], 
praying  him  to  rest  content  with  my  preceding  declaration,  or  restore  my 
country,  as  he  had  done  to  my  brother.  If  he  will  do  neither  one  nor  the 
other,  I  know  not  what  I  ought  to  do.  Yesterday  I  dined  at  Hanau  with 
the  Landgrave,  and  Madame  his  wife.  She  much  wished  to  see  you  in 
Germany.'* 

These  repeated  messages  prove  that  Eh'zabeth  was  always 
distant  from  this  celebrated  campaign  of  Gustavus  Adolphus. 
Amelia,  Landgravine  of  Hesse,  mentioned  here,  was  the 
niece  of  Frederic's  mother,  Juliana.  He  often  speaks  of 
her  with  great  praise ;  but  so  far  from  lauding  her  beauty, 
like  her  partisans,  he  pronounces  on  her  the  sentence  of 
ugliness,  but  allows  her  admirable  qualities.  Frederic  takes 
care  to  inform  his  consort  "  that  Frankfort  fair  is  nothing,'" 
his  economy  being  needfully  great,  and  her  desire  for 
fairings  childishly  eager.  She  vainly  sent  her  husband 
commissions  for  purchases  at  Frankfort  spring  fair,  and  had 
teased  Vane  for  fairings. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


157 


"  I  thank  you  "  slie  wrote  to  liim,  for  your  wine,  and  will  be  no  less 
grateful  for  your  fairings,  the  Princess  of  Orange,  my  Lady  Strange,  and 
I,  having  provided  some  for  you  out  of  the  great  Kirch-mass  Fair  of  this 
country.  Them  you  would  have  had  by  my  little  monkey  [young  Sir 
Jacob  Astley],  if  he  had  gone  that  way  ;  but  now  we  must  stay  for  a  sure 
messenger,  because  such  precious  things  must  not  fall  into  the  enemy's 
hands." 

Frankfort  autumn  fair  had  been  long  celebrated  as  the 
greatest  mart  of  books  in  the  whole  world,  and  these  would 
have  been  fairings  worthy  the  gay  Queen's  acceptance  and 
of  her  learned  consort's  purchase — he  who  travelled  to  the 
wars  with  eight  cases  of  books  among  his  baggage.  Yet  it 
is  only  too  probable  that  the  German  booksellers  eschewed 
unfolding  their  treasures  at  the  headquarters  of  the  invad- 
ing Swede. 

An  unusual  passage  occurs  in  this  letter  ^  to  Elizabeth. 
Her  husband  finds  it  necessary  to  find  fault  with  her  : — 

"  I  am  astonished  that  you  did  not  lodge  Dingle  sooner  in  the  Com- 
manderie,  where  he  would  have  had  room  enough,  rather  than  so  near  your 
daughter  and  the  women's  quarters  at  the  Hague.  He  might  well  have 
contented  himself  with  the  chamber  Ashburnham  had.  You  know  well 
my  mind  as  to  that,  and  that  I  hate  to  give  rise  to  gossip  ;  likewise,  I  well 
know  your  disposition,  who  can  never  say  no  "  or  refuse  any  request.  I 
expend  much  in  this  country  without  advancing  my  affairs ;  but  nothing 
grieves  me  so  much  to  see,  as  the  miserable  state  of  my  poor  subjects.  May 
God  change  all  for  the  best,  and  render  me  so  happy  as  to  restore  you  to 
me.  When  you  have  read  the  articles,  I  pray  you  send  them  to  Maurice" 
[not  his  young  son,  but  a  confidential  agent  whom  he  had  left  in  charge  of 
his  affairs.]  ^  *'  The  Marquess  of  Hamilton,"  he  announces  to  Elizabeth,  "  is 
just  departed  for  England,  where  I  hope  for  his  good  offices  about  the 
King ;  he  has  always  manifested  strong  attachment  in  everything  concerning 
us.  At  my  parting  from  him  I  gave  him  the  George  that  you  gave  to  me. 
I  was  convinced  you  could  not  deem  it  better  bestowed.  He  requested 
that  I  would  give  him  my  portrait  to  put  behind  it.  I  send  you  here  the 
measure,  I  pray  you  let  it  be  executed  in  petit  peint  ure  [miniature].  Mau- 
rice will  pay. 

"  I  am  little  obliged  to  Dupont,  who  has  squandered  for  me  two  thousand 
florins  in  France  ;  but  I  fancy  I  owe  that  malefaction  to  his  wife.  I  am  on 
the  eve  of  departure  for  Altsheim.^  A  defluxion  has  fallen  on  my  left  ear, 
which  impedes  my  hearing.  God  send  it  may  not  be  worse.  I  shall  put 
myself  under  regimen  of  diet  at  Altsheim  for  some  days,  to  see  what  good 


^  Bromley  Letters,  October  2,  new  style,  1632. 

2  Probably  his  kinsman.  Count  Maurice  of  Nassau,  whom  he  often  men- 
tions as  in  immediate  communication  with  his  family  at  the  Hague. 

3  Or  Altzy,  a  town  with  a  strong  castle  in  the  Palatinate. 


158 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


that  may  do  me.  Here  they  are  under  great  alarm  of  Pappenheim  ;  but  I 
will  hope  he  cannot  effect  much,  winter  being  so  near  at  hand.  But  the 
Counts  of  Wittera  will  have  to  famish,  I  fear.  How  I  wish  you  near  me.  '  I 
shall  be  sadly  dull  at  Altsheim,  where  I  shall  be  utterly  solitary  ;  but  I  will 
not  fail  to  write  to  you  every  week,  for  my  thoughts  are  continually  upon 
you.^    I  am  now  getting  into  my  coach,  going  to  Oppenheim  this  evening." 

A  few  days  afterwards  he  wrote  very  sorrowfully  from 
Altsheim,  having  been  infinitely  depressed  by  the  sight  of 
his  ruined  country.  Most  historians  give  the  sapient  verdict 
that  the  death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  broke  the  heart  of 
Frederic,  Palatine  of  the  Rhine  and  King  of  Bohemia : 
surely  it  would  have  been  better  first  to  have  examined  his 
own  evidence  on  the  state  of  his  affections. 

"  If  the  King  of  Sweden  had  had  the  will  to  do  it,  my  Palatinate  might 
long  have  been  delivered  from  men-at-arms.  But  were  any  towns  ever  tor- 
mented like  mine  ?  It  seems  long,  indeed,  since  I  heard  from  you.  Maurice 
sends  me  word  that  Charles  has  the  small-pox  ;  that  gives  me  uneasiness. 
God  grant  that  you  may  all  be  preserved  by  His  grace,  and  make  me  so 
happy  as  to  have  the  sight  of  you  soon."  ^ 

Frederic,  soon  after,  is  heard  of  at  Mentz,  which  was  not 
a  site  like  to  cure  his  illness — being  seated  at  the  confluence 
of  the  Maine  and  the  Rhine ;  from  thence  he  visited  his 
brother,  the  Duke  of  Simmeren.  Here  he  met  his  excel- 
lent sister  Charlotte,  Electress  of  Brandenburg,  whose  hus- 
band had  great  reason  to  pray  for  the  Protestant  champion, 
Gustavus — Preserve  us  from  our  friends ! They  pro- 
bably came  as  suppliants  to  Mentz,  which  he  had  seized 
from  the  ecclesiastical  Elector,  and  rendered  subject  to  his 
banner.  The  Electress  Charlotte  sent  a  remembrance  to 
Elizabeth,  which  Frederic  despatched  with  the  following 
pretty  little  billet : — 

MoN  TREs  CHER  C(EUR, — The  Baron  de  Rupa  goes  to  see  you,  and  I  would 
make  this  accompany  him,  although  I  wrote  you  but  yesterday.  I  send 
you,  by  him,  a  little  agate  coffer  that  my  sister  the  Duchess  has  prayed 


1  Endorsed,  From  Frankfort,  September  26  to  October  6,"  new  style— 
Bromley. 

2  Dated  September  20  to  October  \  0— I)' Alsace  ;  but  the  editor  of  Brom- 
ley Letters  has  mistaken  place  and  date  of  the  year.  The  circumstances 
Frederic  mentions  rectify  the  last;  and  the  town  of  Altsheim,  on  the  river 
Altzy,  near  Frankenthal,  should  have  been  the  date  of  place. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


159 


me  to  send  to  you,  and  little  ^^gouppes"  on  the  part  of  her  husband.  I 
believe  if  they  had  had  anything  better  they  would  willingly  have  offered 
it  to  you.  Believe  me  I  love  you  entirely,  and  that  my  thoughts  are  on 
you  perpetually,  and  that  I  shall  be  all  my  life,  my  dear  only  heart,  your 
very  faithful  friend,  and  very  affectionate  servitor, 

"  Frederic." 

"De  Mayence,  20/30  October,  1632."  * 

There  were  circumstances  connected  with  the  family- 
meeting  of  the  Princes  of  the  Palatine  family,  joined  by 
Frederic  at  Mentz,  which  he  did  not  communicate  to  his 
high-spirited  Elizabeth  ;  but  which  sorely  vexed  his  own 
broken  spirit.  It  was  there  that  Gustavus  Adolphus  gave 
him,  as  his  ultimatum,  the  terms  of  holding  the  Palatinate 
in  vassalage  to  him.  Such  degradation  was  little  softened 
by  the  unfolding  of  the  plans  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  who 
aimed  at  being  the  Emperor  of  Protestant  Germany.^  It 
was  but  the  very  day  before  the  great  battle  of  Lutzen  that 
Frederic,  then  at  Mentz,  wrote  the  following  letter  to 
EHzabeth,  dated  November  5/15,  1632:— 

Your  letter  was  happily  received  by  me  on  Saturday  evening.  It  is 
my  best  satisfaction  here  that  the  posts  have  returned  to  their  punctu- 
ality, and  that  I  have  often  your  news.  I  am  glad  you  have  seen  your 
countryman,  and  you  did  w^ell  to  write  to  me.  By  him  I  know  you  have 
sent  my  portrait  to  the  Marquess  of  Hamilton,  from  whom  I  have  not 
heard  since  we  parted." 

He  then  enters  into  a  passage  of  ciphered  politics :  from 
it  may  be  gathered  that  her  dower-castle  of  Frankenthal 
had  agreed  to  surrender  to  him. 

I  have  received  the  portrait  of  Philip  [his  fifth  son].  I  think  it  im- 
proved, but  it  seems  to  me  too  old.  Beningsley  serves  our  children  well  ; 
no  one  can  be  more  fit  for  this  charge.  I  have  sent  two  agates  to  Clitscher 
to  make  them  cut  into  two  Georges.  I  pray  you  hand  to  him  the  enclosed 
billet,  from  which  he  will  understand  my  intentions  ;  and  if  he  does  not 
understand  French,  explain  it  to  him.  As  for  the  pages  you  mention,  I 
have  no  vacant  place.  The  French  are  very  dirty,  and  I  cannot  augment 
my  numbers.  I  hope  the  Duchess  of  Lansperg  will  find  this  excuse  legiti- 
mate.  Do  not  put  yourself  in  pain ;  there  is  no  danger  to  be  feared  for  me 


^  Bromley  Letters. 

2  Spanheim's  Life  of  Juliana.  Frederic  Spanheim  was  born  at  Amberg, 
in  the  High  Palatinate,  in  1603,  an  eyewitness  of  events.  He  died  in  1649, 
having  been  theologian  Professor  at  Leyden.  He  wrote  an  eulogistic 
memoir  of  his  sovereign's  mother,  the  Dowager-Electress  Juliana,  his 
friend  and  co-religionist.  He  may  be  depended  upon  in  all  matters  uncon- 
nected with  religious  politics. 


160 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


here.  You  must  liave  heard  of  the  taking  of  Leipsic.  The  King  of  Sweden 
and  his  army  are  in  that  direction.  God  send  him  the  happy  success  he 
has  had  heretofore  ;  but  all  depends  on  the  Almighty's  will."  ^ 

After  being  admitted  into  the  sanctuary  of  the  thoughts  of 
Elizabeth  and  Frederic  by  means  of  the  foregoing  corre- 
spondence, we  can  scarcely  give  them  credit  for  the  distress 
and  dismay  which  some  writers  seem  to  think  it  was  decent 
they  should  manifest  for  the  death  of  the  Swedish  hero  by 
the  Great  Stone  of  Lutzen — it  certainly  relieved  them  from 
the  humiliating  idea  of  holding  the  Palatinate  in  vassalage 
to  him.  The  actual  symptoms  of  feeling  shown  by  Elizabeth 
were  a  very  early  and  active  anxiety  for  her  husband's 
interest.  She  lost  no  time  in  writing  to  her  brother,  Charles 
I.,  to  transfer  the  allowance  which  it  seems  he  had 
agreed  to  pay  to  the  Lutheran  champion,  to  her  husband, 
as  her  ambition  so  far  mastered  her  judgment  that  she  ab- 
solutely fancied  that  her  broken-spirited  Frederic  could  step 
into  the  generalship  of  the  Protestant  armies  in  the  place  of 
the  slain  hero,  who  was  not  only  hero,  but  the  greatest 
general  of  his  day.  Charles  L  agreed  to  the  suggestions  of 
his  sister,  and  gave  suitable  instructions  to  his  diplomat 
Elphinstone  ^  thereon  ;  but  an  event  was  at  hand  which 
altered  all  these  arrangements,  and  provided  the  weary 
head  of  Frederic  with  rest.  As  dictator  of  armies  com- 
posed of  three  adverse  religionists,  troubles  would  have 
come  upon  him  indeed  in  battalions. 

The  plague  was  raging  in  Frankenthal,  which  place  had 
agreed  to  surrender  to  Frederic,  November  12.  It  was 
reported  in  Mentz  that  he  had  taken  the  plague;  but  his 
secretary  Curtius,  to  whom  he  gave  audience  in  bed,  reports 
that  he  mentioned  the  plague  story  to  him,  and  treated  it 
as  an  idle  rumour,  showing  him  a  swelling  In  his  neck,  and 
telling  him  "  when  it  burst  he  should  be  well."  It  may  be 
remembered  that  he  mentions  to  his  wife  a  swelling  which 
came  behind  his  ear,  affecting  his  hearing,  to  medicate  which 
illness  he  had  retired  to  Altsheim.  He  had  not  been  well 
since  the  day  of  severe  cavalry  service,  when  he  gave  personal 

^  Bromley  Letters,  November  5/15,  1632. 
2  State-Paper  MS. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


161 


assistance  in  the  raid  of  Giistavus  Adolphus,  to  clear  the 
Nuremberg  roads  of  the  Croats.    Solemn  service  was  per- 
formed in  the  Dom-Church  at  Mentz  on  account  of  the 
recent  victories.    All  the  city  flocked  thither,  and  Frederic, 
tired  of  his  sick-room,  would  join  the  congregation.  Two 
counts,  his  cousins,  dined  with  him.    After  service  his  head 
became  very  painful ;  but  he  attended  to  business,  and  ar- 
ranged the  garrison  which  was  to  enter  Frankenthal  on  his 
part,  as  the  Spanish  commander  had  surrendered.    He  was 
much  agitated  at  finding  that  Bannier  and  Oxenstiern,  the 
Swedish  regents,  insisted  on  the  same  terms  of  toleration  for 
the  Lutherans  for  which  their  royal  master  had  stipulated. 
Yet  as  King  Gustavus  Adolphus  could  no  longer  claim  vas- 
salage from  the  monarch  of  the  Rhine,  his  affairs  were 
clearly  in  a  far  better  state.     However  this  may  be,  a 
change  for  the  worse  rapidly  took  place  in  the  health  of  the 
unfortunate  Frederic.    He  fancied  he  heard  the  voice  of  his 
loved  and  lost  Henry  calling    Father  !  father  !  come  tome, 
father  ! in  the  piteous  tones  that  rang  on  his  ear  through 
the  dismal  frost-fog  of  Haarlem  Meer.^    All  his  attendants 
were  struck  with  horror  at  this  revelation.    One  or  two  who 
had  common  sense,  declared  their  master  delirious  with  the 
fever,  and  sent  in  haste  to  his  kind  relatives  the  Prince  and 
Princess  of  Hesse-Darmstadt  for  Dr  Peter  Spina,  the  physician 
of  their  household.    This  intelligent  man  could  not  arrive 
until  November  26.    He  found  the  royal  patient  alarm- 
ingly ill ;  his  brain  wandering  ;  the  whites  of  the  eyes  red, 
and  he  was  withal  so  weak  that  to  reduce  these  symptoms 
would  exhaust  life  itself.    Other  swellings  were  apparent 
on  his  person,  which  were  considered  plague-spots.  The 
treatment  of  Dr  Peter  Spina  restored  the  reason  of  the 
unfortunate  Frederic,  who  had  refreshing  sleep,  and  woke, 
believing  that  the  crisis  of  his  illness  had  passed,  and  insisted 
on  writing  a  few  lines  to  his  dear  consort,  to  tell  her  the 
good  news,  adding,    that  if  he  might  but  live  to  see  her 
once  more  he  should  die  content.''    His  extreme  weakness, 
nevertheless,  extinguished  all  hope,  and  on  the  29th  of 


VOL.  VIII. 


Spanheim. 


L 


162 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


November  his  final  hour  was  plainly  approaching.  His 
last  words  are  preserved  by  Spanheim,  his  mother's  religious 
minister,  and  his  own  subject.  In  dying/'  he  expressed 
his  conviction  that  the  States  of  Holland,  and  Prince 
Henry  their  Stadtholder,  would  not  withdraw  their  protec- 
tion from  the  dear  Princess  his  consort,  whom  he  had  com- 
mitted to  their  care ;  and  that  from  Charles  I.  she  would 
continue  to  receive  proofs  of  fraternal  affection.  As  to 
himself,  she  would  only  lose  one  whose  chief  merit  had  been 
that  she  had  constantly  been  the  dearest  object  in  his  exist- 
ence/' To  his  children  he  left  an  exhortation  to  remain  firm 
in  the  Protestant  faith,  and  obedience  to  their  mother.  To 
all  his  relatives  he  sent  some  affectionate  remembrance. 
But  with  his  very  last  thoughts,  and  even  amid  his  very 
last  prayers,  the  name  of  Elizabeth  was  tenderly  mingled."^ 
Frederic  expired  in  the  Castle  of  Mentz^  about  seven  in 
the  evening  of  November  29,  1632,  new  style,  with  calmness 
and  devotion.  Sorrow  at  witnessing  the  miseries  of  his 
loving  subjects  had  brought  his  days  to  an  end  in  the  meri- 
dian of  life,  for  he  was  but  in  the  thirty-sixth  year  of  his 
age.  The  fortress  of  Frankenthal  was  not  given  up  by  the 
Infanta's  troops  until  the  third  day  after  Frederic  had  ex- 
pired. It  received  him  dead,  though  not  living,  for  he  was 
interred  in  the  Dom-Kirk  ;  at  which  time  it  was  taken 
possession  of  by  the  Duke  of  Simmeren,  as  administrator  for 
Charles  Louis  his  nephew,  whose  affairs  he  was  to  manage 
during  his  minority.  About  two  years  afterwards,  when 
this  unlucky  Frankenthal  again  fell  under  the  power  of  the 
Imperialists,  the  Duke  of  Simmeren  removed  his  brother's 
coffin  to  the  burial-place  of  his  relatives,  the  Bouillons,  at 
Sedan,  on  account  of  the  outrages  the  Eoman  Catholic 
troops  had  committed  at  Heidelberg  in  the  place  of  inter- 
ment of  the  ancient  Palatine  princes.  There  the  remains 
of  the  hapless  Frederic  at  last  found  rest  in  a  world  which 
had  afforded  him  none  when  living,  and  with  difficulty  per- 
mitted it  in  death.  Sedan  was  the  abode  of  his  earliest 
years,  and  where  he  received  his  education. 

^  Spanheim.  ^  Ibid. 


ELIZABETH  STUART 


CHAPTEE  VL 

SUMMARY 

Xews  of  her  widowhood  broken  to  Elizabeth  by  the  Prince  of  Orange — Her 
surprise  and  agony — Charles  I,  entreats  her  to  visit  him — She  pleads  her 
duty  to  her  children  in  excuse — Leaves  her  sick-bed  and  assumes  widow's 
garb  to  receive  Lord  Arundel — Charles  L's  bounty  to  her  and  her 
children — Elizabeth's  loving  letters  to  him — Her  warm  gratitude — Her 
eldest  son's  disposition — Her  daughter's  accomplishments — Elizabeth 
tempted  by  Richelieu  and  Charnasse  to  betray  her  brother — Her  noble 
reply — Charles  L  invites  her  sons  to  England — She  sends  the  young 
Elector  and  Rupert — Rupert  intended  for  a  leader  of  emigration  by 
Charles  1. — Elizabeth  forbids  it — Uladislaus,  King  of  Poland,  asks  the 
hand  of  her  daughter  Elizabeth —Elizabeth's  partiality  for  her  eldest  son 
— Differences  between  her  and  her  eldest  daughter — The  young  Elector's 
letters  to  his  mother — Scandals  circulated  by  her  maid  Mrs  Crofts  and 
Lady  Carlisle — Elizabeth  fears  for  her  son  Rupert's  religion — Queen  Hen- 
rietta tries  to  make  him  Roman  Catholic — Elizabeth  wishes  him  to  fight 
against  the  Emperor — Forbids  his  voyage  to  the  East  Indies — Her  letter 
against  colonising — Death  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  11. — Elizabeth 
receives  Marie  de  Medicis — Tired  of  her  company  at  the  Hague — Dreads 
her  visit  for  Charles  I. — Elector  and  Rupert  lose  the  battle  of  Lippe — 
Rupert  and  Lord  Craven  taken  by  the  Imperialists — Elizabeth  wishes 
Rupert  dead  rather  than  prisoner — Repents  her  wish — Her  indifference 
to  Lord  Craven — Maurice,  Edward,  and  Philip  sent  by  her  to  Paris  to 
learn  graces — Elector  gets  into  prison  at  Vincennes — Great  trouble  of 
Elizabeth — Richelieu  puts  under  restraint  her  other  sons — Return  of  the 
young  Elector  to  England — His  meanness  and  ingratitude  to  Charles  I. 
— Sudden  return  of  Rupert  to  his  mother — He  and  Maurice  sent  to 
fight  for  Charles  I.  by  their  mother — Cavalier  ballad  in  which  she  is 
mentioned — Death  of  her  youngest  child  Gustaf. 

Elizabeth  was  by  no  means  prepared  for  the  blow  that 
awaited  her.  From  the  last  letter  written  to  her  by  her 
unfortunate  consort,  she  had  derived  no  idea  of  his  danger  ; 


164 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


her  sanguine  and  hopeful  temperament  anticipated  nothing 
worse  than  a  return  in  triumph  to  Frankenthal.  Every 
hour  she  expected  the  announcement  that  her  Frederic 
would  come  to  reinstate  her,  as  before,  in  the  beautiful 
dominions  they  had  forsaken  in  an  evH  hour  for  the  empty 
title  of  royalty.  She  was  ill  with  the  intermittent  fever 
which  had  raged  along  the  Rhine  that  wet  and  sickly  sea- 
son. The  old  family  physician,  Dr  Eurapf,  who  had  long 
been  domesticated  at  the  Hague  with  the  Palatine,  was 
the  person  deputed  to  break  the  tidings  of  her  bereave- 
ment, Dr  Spina  having  written  a  narrative  letter  to  him/ 
detailing  the  particulars  of  the  event.  Eumpf  called  to 
his  aid  the  Countess  of  Solms,  mother  to  the  Princess  of 
Orange,  and,  at  last,  the  Prince  himself.  Her  reception  of 
the  dreadful  truth  was  such  as  to  make  these  old  and  valued 
friends^  of  Elizabeth  believe  her  life  was  in  danger.  Months 
afterwards  she  herself  described  her  own  sufferings,  declar- 
ing— "  that  it  seemed  to  take  away  her  facuhies,  although 
not  her  sense  of  misery,  and  that  she  remained  for  three 
days  chill  and  silent,  unable  to  speak  or  weep.^'^  Her  sym- 
pathising friends,  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  the  Countess 
Solms,  wrote  piteously  of  her  sad  state  to  her  brother,  Charles 
I,  whose  affectionate  letter,  written  only  ten  days  after  the 
fatal  event,  was  the  first  thing  that  afforded  her  the  slightest 
solace.  Her  faithful  secretary,  Francis  Nethersole,  was  the 
bearer  of  the  King's  letter.  So  anxious  was  Charles  that  it 
should  reach  her  hands  speedily,  that  he  provided  Nethersole 
with  passports  from  various  ports,  that  he  might  embark 
where  the  wind  served  best  to  the  Hague.  Charles  invited 
her  tenderly  to  England,  entreating  her  to  set  out  the  mo- 
ment she  was  able.^  Meantime  he  prepared  for  her  reception 
her  former  residences,  the  Cockpit  of  Whitehall,  and  his 
palace  at  Eltham.^  The  afflicted  Queen,  when  sufficiently 
recovered,  wrote  to  her  brother  a  long  letter  in  reply  to 

1  State-Paper  MS.,  November  20/30,  1632— Peter  Spina  to  Dr  Rumpf. 

^  Sir  Thomas  Roe's  Correspondence  in  Germany — Letter  from  Elizabeth 
of  Bohemia.    State-Paper  MS.  »  Ibid. 

*  Archives  of  France,  Arsenal,  Paris.  The  letter  and  the  answer  have 
been  translated  for  tlie  information  of  Richelieu. 

^  liarleian  MS. — Pory  to  Sir  Thomas  Puckering. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


165 


this  affectionate  Invltation.l  She  tells  him  that  his  mes- 
sengers, Boswell  and  Nethersole,  found  her  the  most  afflicted 
creature  this  world  ever  held,  having  lost  the  best  friend 
she  had  in  It,  in  whom  her  joy  and  affections  were  so  en- 
tirely centred  that  glad  she  should  be  to  be  at  rest  by 
him,  were  it  not  for  his  helpless  children;  and  further,  the 
great  kindness  she  received  from  so  dear  a  brother,  made 
her  wish  to  live  to  aid  them/' 

The  invitation  to  England,  for  which  she  had  vainly  longed 
in  her  father's  time,  she  declines  as  inconsistent  with  the 
German  etiquette  of  widowhood,  which  forced  her  to  seclude 
herself  several  weeks  in  her  chamber  ;  and  for  her  children's 
sake,  she  resolved  to  observe  rigorously  the  customs  of  their 
country.  She  requests  her  brother  to  observe  the  strange 
coincidence  that,  though  ill  of  the  same  intermittent  fever 
that  carried  off  her  husband,  yet,  it  being  her  dear  brother's 
birthday,  November  19th  (old  style),  she  was  writing  to 
him,  the  subject  being  the  King  of  Sweden's  death  (whom, 
by  the  way,  she  named  without  the  least  expression  of 
regret),  when  Nethersole  desired  an  Interview  with  her 
to  communicate  Charles  I.'s  desire  to  see  her  in  England, 
an  Invitation  that  her  brother  had  sent  previously,  thinking 
dangerous  times  would  be  at  hand  for  women  and  children 
after  the  death  of  the  Swedish  champion.  On  this  very 
day  her  husband  breathed  his  last,  as  she  recalls  to  her 
brother's  remembrance.  Again  she  expresses  her  regret  ''that 
she  cannot  come  to  him  In  England,  because  it  became  very 
needful  to  exert  herself  for  the  restoration  of  her  son  to  the 
Palatinate,  and  she  must  prefer  the  welfare  of  her  children 
to  her  own  happiness ;  adding  that  the  last  request  their 
father  made  her  at  parting  was  for  her  '  to  do  her  utmost  for 
them;'  and  now  she  loved  them  more  because  they  were 
his  children  than  because  they  were  her  own.  After  thanking 
her  brother  for  sending  her  a  person  so  esteemed  by  her  as 
Nethersole,  the  only  one  she  could  have  conferred  with  in 
her  desolate  state,  and  who  carries  back  her  answer,  she  bids 
Charles  I.  require  of  him  the  particulars  of  how  kind  the 

^  Archives  of  France — MS.  in  French  for  Richelieu. 


166 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


Prince  of  Orange  was  to  her,  and  how  much  attached  that 
faithful  friend  was  to  him."  And  good  reason  had  the 
Prince  of  Orange  to  be  so,  for  Charles  1.  had  Incurred  the 
deadly  malice  of  Richelieu  by  protecting  Holland  from  his 
-power} 

King  Charles  had  just  before  received  a  letter  from 
Leyden,^  written  by  Elizabeth's  eldest  surviving  son,  the 
young  Elector  Palatine,  to  whose  signature  was  added  those 
of  his  three  younger  brothers  studying  at  the  University 
with  him.  The  words  were  simple  and  touching,  remind- 
ing the  King  that  they  had  hitherto  been  brought  up  by 
his  bounty,  and  that,  now  God  had  taken  from  them  their 
dear  lord  and  father,  they  had  no  protector  but  him,  to 
whose  gracious  arms  they  committed  themselves,  having  no 
hope  in  this  world  greater  than  belonging  to  his  royal 
blood/'  Eupert,  Maurice,  and  Edward,  joined  their  names 
to  this  supplication.  To  which  Charles  replied,  that  the 
place  of  their  father  could  be  supplied,  since  he  would  fill  It ; 
but  he  had  irreparably  lost  a  dear  brother." 

Elizabeth  had  for  some  time  confided  her  eldest  son  to  Sir 
John  DIneley  as  governor,  and  her  younger  ones  to  the  charge 
ofher  former  page,her  little  monkey,  Sir  Jacob  Astley.  Dur- 
ing the  acuteness  of  her  grief  DIneley  wrote  frequently  to  her 
old  friend,  Sir  Thomas  Eoe,  in  which  he  uses  this  emphatic 
comparison,  Her  Majesty,  the  most  afflicted  of  women, 
and  yet  the  greater  for  her  trials,  hath  passed  through  fire 
and  water,  sighs  and  tears,  though  not  without  some  marks 
of  her  agony/'  ^  Wasted,  indeed,  with  grief  and  sickness, 
she,  for  the  first  time,  left  her  chamber  and  her  bed-wrap- 
pers, and  assumed  her  sable  garb  of  widowhood,  in  order  to 
receive  the  solemn  embassy  sent  by  her  brother  nominally 
for  condolence,  but  really  for  the  better  arrangement  of 
her  affairs.  Lord  Arundel,  the  Premier  Peer  of  England, 
her  early  friend,  was  this  ambassador ;  he  brought  with 
him  a  train  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons. 

A  consultation  took  place  on  the  private  and  public 


'  Sir  William  Temple.  ^  State  Papers. 

'  State  Papers,  Feb.  14— Sir  John  Dineley  to  Sir  T.  Koe. 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


167 


affairs  of  tlie  Palatine  family,  in  which  Lord  Arundel  assisted 
Elizabeth.  The  allowance  that  Charles  I.  had  hitherto 
awarded  to  them  he  agreed  to  continue.  It  was  in  arrears, 
which  he  paid  towards  the  liquidation  of  their  debts.  Twenty 
thousand  pounds  per  annum  was  the  sum  he  paid  to  his 
sister  and  her  children,  chiefly  from  his  own  estates,  as  long 
as  he  was  able  to  draw  any  revenue  from  them.  Notwith- 
standing the  troubles  in  which  Frederic  had  been  involved, 
he  left  the  account  of  his  affairs  a  pattern  of  that  order  for 
which  tlie  German  character  is  noted.  Seventy  thousand 
pounds  lay  in  the  Amsterdam  Bank  towards  the  provision 
of  his  younger  children,  the  fruits  of  the  sale  of  one  of  the 
appanage  properties  belonging  to  the  younger  branches  of 
his  line.  Bat  his  own  olive  branches  were  so  very  numer- 
ous, that  provision,  according  to  their  rank,  was  not  easy  to 
make,  even  if  all  had  been  prosperous  in  the  rich  old  cities 
of  the  Rliine,  over  which  his  government  formerly  extended. 
Great  difficulties  had  been  removed  from  the  settlement  of 
affairs  by  the  death  of  the  head  of  the  house.  The  calamit- 
ous sceptre  of  Bohemia,  which  had  been  the  cause  of  weigh- 
ing Frederic  to  the  tomb,  was  removed  from  his  son,  audits 
miserable  title  only  remained  with  the  Dowager-Queen 
Elizabeth.  Heidelberg  had  surrendered,  and  was  given  up 
by  the  Swedes  to  Duke  Louis  Philip  of  Simmeren,  and  he 
who  had  arranged  his  tolerations  of  the  clashing  Christian 
sects  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Swedes,  pursued  the  same 
course  for  his  nephew — an  arrangement  to  which  fanatic 
objections  by  the  sectarians  at  the  Hague  were  clamorously 
urged  on  Elizabeth,  whereupon  her  brother-in-law  threw  up 
his  trust,  with  the  intimation  that  if  they  did  not  approve 
of  his  moderate  policy,  perhaps  they  would  prefer  the 
administration  of  the  young  Elector's  next  of  kin.^  Now 
this  happened  to  be  the  Roman  Catholic  Duke  of  Neu- 
burg,  an  inexorable  Imperial  partisan,  into  whose  hands, 
by  the  German  law,  the  guardianship  of  the  Palatine  princes 

^  State-Paper  MSS.  from  Jan.  1632-33  to  Nov.  1633  ;  likewise  Span- 
heim,  who,  of  course,  conceals  as  much  as  possible  the  intolerance  of  his 
sect. 


168 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


must  inevitably  fall.  Louis  Philip  of  Simmeren  knew  well 
the  dilemma  in  which  the  Dutch  fanatics  were  fixed.  He  was 
obstinate  in  refusing  his  difficult  guardianship;  and  it  was 
not  until  the  entreaties  of  his  mother,  the  Electress  Juliana, 
were  joined  to  those  of  Elizabeth  that  he  would  resume  the 
government  of  his  nephew's  dominions.  It  followed  that 
EHzabeth's  eldest  son,  Charles  Louis,  was  acknowledged 
as  Prince  of  the  Lower  Palatinate.  The  domains  of  the 
Upper  Palatinate,  when  his  father  fell  under  the  ban  of  the 
Empire,  had  been  given  by  the  Imperial  Diet  to  his 
cousin.  Max  of  Bavaria.  War-wasted  as  they  were,  they 
proved  the  richest  gem  in  his  electoral  bonnet ;  for  the 
Bavarian  Duke  had  been  promoted  as  the  first  Elector 
in  rank  in  the  Imperial  chapter,  the  place  hitherto  held  by 
Frederic  and  his  ancestors. 

War  still  raged  along  the  Rhine.  Duke  Bernard  of  Saxe- 
Weimar  was  nominally  considered  head  of  the  Swedish 
armies ;  they  were  in  fact  divided  into  three,  commanded 
by  him.  General  Bannier,  and  General  Wrangel,  who  acted 
almost  independently  of  each  other,  like  the  war-kings  who, 
either  under  the  Saxon  or  Danish  banner,  once  ravaged 
fair  England. 

There  was  little  cordial  co-operation  between  the  Luther- 
an and  the  Calvinist  leaders.  Henry  Prince  of  Orange  sus- 
tained the  cause  of  the  latter ;  Elizabeth's  eldest  son,  with 
his  next  brother,  Rupert,  only  thirteen,  entered  his  army 
as  princely  volunteers,  to  learn  the  art  of  war.  Her 
younger  sons  remained  at  Leyden,  and  she  herself  retired 
with  her  daughters  to  Rhenen,  where  they  beguiled  their 
griefs  in  the  cultivation  of  the  arts.  The  young  Princess 
Palatine,  Elizabeth,  under  the  tuition  of  her  mother's  old  in- 
structor, Honthorst,  became  celebrated  as  an  amateur 
artist ;  her  next  sister,  Louisa,  surpassed  her ;  and  indeed 
their  pieces  still  command  prices  in  Europe,  not  merely  as 
royal  relics,  but  as  fine  specimens  of  Flemish  art  in  por- 
trait-painting.^ On  the  young  Elizabeth  had  descended 
no  share  of  the  beauty  of  her  ancestress,  Mary  Stuart ; 
but  she  was  renowned  for  her  learning  as  well  as  her 
^  Some  are  to  be  seen  at  Althorpe. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


169 


artlstlcal  skill.  Louisa  was  lovely  in  person,  and  very 
attractive  in  manners.  The  next  sister,  Henrietta  Maria,  a 
little  one  about  five  years  old,  was  pretty  ;  and  the  young 
one,  Sophia,  an  infant  of  three  years,  promised  to  be  the 
handsomest  of  all ;  her  playfulness  and  vivacity  made  her  the 
darling  of  her  brother  and  sovereign,  Charles  Louis.  It 
was  well  there  was  some  one  to  mollify  the  temper  of 
that  Prince,  who,  exasperated  by  evil  fortunes,  already 
showed  symptoms  of  those  ill  qualities  of  misanthropy  and 
selfishness,  which  afterwards  pained  his  mother's  heart 
more  than  any  of  her  other  griefs. 

Elizabeth  herself  was  the  last  person  in  the  world  to 
encourage  the  party  that  laid  her  brother^s  crown  in  the 
dust,  and  finally  took  his  life.  Her  letters  of  advice  to 
him  breathe  a  bellicose  spirit,  which  would  have  speedily 
settled  the  civil  war  one  way  or  other.  Yet  in  England 
her  name  had  succeeded  that  of  the  unfortunate  Princesses 
of  the  House  of  Gray  as  the  rallying-point  of  the  Geneva 
factions,  political  and  religious.  Many  withal,  young  and 
romantic  persons  growing  up,  were  her  devoted  admirers  ; 
persons  who  had  no  politics  but  their  feelings,  wholly  dis- 
tinct from  the  polemic  agitators,  who  merely  wanted  her 
name  for  a  cry.  The  father  of  her  secretary,  Nethersole, 
was  leader  in  the  House  of  Commons  of  a  strange  set  of 
supernaturalists  of  the  Brownist  class ;  he  insisted  on  telling 
his  dreams  at  every  sitting  of  the  House  for  deliberation  or 
committee,  until  he  was  voted  a  nuisance — and  no  wonder. 
Such  was  the  temper  of  affairs  when  Elizabeth  sent  her 
faithful  servant,  his  son,  on  her  old  errand  of  begging 
money  from  her  brother.  Sir  Francis  Xethersole  was  pro- 
saic and  obtuse  to  that  degree  that  his  letters  and  de- 
spatches offer  a  collection  of  the  driest  bones  that  were  ever 
served  up  to  the  historical  reader;  but  he  was  sincere  in  his 
loyalty  to  Elizabeth.  Finding  money  scarce  in  the  Court  of 
England  in  1633,  Nethersole  took  it  into  his  head  to  raise 
some  by  begging  through  the  country  in  the  name  of  his 
distressed  mistress,  appealing  to  her  popularity  for  the 
smallest  donations.  Charles  1.  considered  such  a  proceed- 
ing dangerous  and  disgraceful,  and  forbade  it.  Nethersole 


170 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


was  contumacious  before  the  Council  Board  ;  was  put  under 
arrest ;  escaped  to  his  friend  the  Dutch  Ambassador ;  and  be- 
came the  cause  of  a  very  long  and  dull  controversy  between 
the  Dutch  and  the  ministers  of  Charles  I.  Elizabeth  loved 
her  brother  too  well  to  suffer  politicians  to  interfere  between 
her  heart  and  his.  Charles  invited  his  sister  to  become 
godmother  to  his  second  son  James,  the  same  autumn,  an 
office  which  she  always  remembered  with  maternal  kind- 
ness when  they  afterwards  met  in  Holland.  Her  dear 
godson  Tint/'  as  she  often  calls  him,  is  mentioned  fre- 
quently in  her  letters. 

The  hopes  of  all  her  friends  were  awakened  by  move- 
ments in  the  Upper  Palatinate  in  favour  of  her  son,  and  it 
was  to  encourage  these  demonstrations  that  Nethersole  was 
so  eager  with  the  begging-box  in  England. 

The  years  of  her  eldest  son's  minority  passed  sadly 
over  Elizabeth.  Bitterly  she  continued  to  weep  for  her 
lost  partner,  and  great  reason  she  had  to  regret  him  as  her 
sons  advanced  towards  manhood.  Miserably  as  Germany 
suffered  under  the  scourge  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  the 
forces  of  the  Emperor  were  too  strong  for  tlie  Lutheran 
Princes  and  the  Swedes.  The  latter  armies  lived  on  the  land 
of  friend  or  foe,  or  whatsoever  they  could  take  by  force; 
yet,  though  often  victorious,  they  dwindled.  Then  Richelieu 
extended  his  blandishments  to  the  Calvinists,  who,  und^r 
his  influence,  were  getting  too  strong  for  Charles  I.  in  Great 
Britain.^  He  strongly  tempted  Elizabeth  to  set  up  her  in- 
terest against  her  brother ;  but  the  true  love  of  the  sister 
proved  too  strong  for  any  ambitious  ideas  the  cunning  am- 
bassadors of  Richelieu  could  suggest  in  her  mind.  Her  bright 
and  righteous  intellect  saw  the  motives  of  the  French  prime- 
minister  full  clearly.  From  the  hour  which  witnessed  the 
union  of  the  island  monarchies,  every  scheme — every  ca- 
lumny human  ingenuity  could  invent,  the  French  had  re- 
course to  in  order  to  rend  asunder  the  ties  of  affection  which 
held  together  the  royal  family,  by  whom  it  pleased  Provi- 
dence to  effect  that  beneficial  event.    No  measure  was  too 

'  Temple.  He  affirms  that  Richelieu  bribed  the  agitators,  Pym,  Hamp- 
den, &c. —  See  his  works. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


171 


violent  that  would  delay  the  dreaded  time  when  the  British 
island-empire  took  its  natural  rank  in  Europe — the  rank  it 
holds  in  the  nineteenth  century.  The  French  monarchy, 
notwithstanding  its  claim  to  be  the  eldest  daughter  of  the 
Christian  Church,  cared  not  with  what  wild  fanatics  she 
fraternised,  so  that  she  could  pull  down  the  island  throne. 
But  had  every  branch  of  the  reigning  family  proved  true- 
hearted,  like  Elizabeth  Stuart,  France  had  sowed  the  seeds 
of  strife  in  vain. 

Richelieu  had  private  revenge,  as  well  as  this  fixed  policy 
of  his  country,  to  pursue.  Charles  I.  had  supported  the 
party  of  his  persecuted  benefactress,  Marie  de  Medicis,  the 
mother  of  the  Queen.  Taking  advantage  of  the  delivery  of 
the  desolated  Heidelberg  into  the  hands  of  her  son's  guar- 
dian, the  Duke  of  Simmeren,  in  which  the  French  army, 
allied  with  the  Swedes,  had  some  personal  share,  Richelieu, 
by  his  ambassador,  would  have  lured  Elizabeth  secretly  to 
forsake  all  reliance  on  her  brother,  and  league  herself  with 
him.  Charnasse,^  his  agent  in  northern  diplomacy,  then  at 
the  Hague,  presented  himself  at  one  of  her  public  days 
before  her  saloons  filled,  and  entered  on  this  subject.  But 
Elizabeth  was  full  of  indignation,  because  the  French  had 
refused  to  give  her  son  his  title  of  Elector.  Charnasse 
having  pressed  on  her  attention  that  her  brother  neither 
would  nor  could  give  her  help  from  England,  put  the  insi- 
dious question,  "What,  then,  will  your  Majesty  do?'' 
What  God  and  my  friends  will  advise  me,"  replied  the 
heroine  ;  and,  by  the  way,  this  feminine  and  almost  childish 
answer  was  as  appropriate  as  any  that  could  have  been 
made  to  the  question  direct,  blurted  out  by  Charnasse. 
^'  Why,  Madame,"  he  replied,  "  if  you  would  seek  the  King 
my  master,  you  might  have  assistance  and  protection." 
His  master  was  Louis  XHL,  who,  though  of  age,  was  utterly 
governed  by  the  imperious  Richelieu.       Since  you  speak 

1  Hercules  Baron  de  Charnasse,  a  Breton  noble,  envoy  from  Louis  XIII. 
to  Gustavus  Adolphus.  He  joined  the  functions  of  colonel  to  those  of  am- 
bassador. In  the  latter  capacity  he  was  killed  at  the  siege  of  Breda  in  1637, 
having  previously  carried  on  negotiations  with  Denmark,  Poland,  and  the 
Princes  of  Germany.  Elizabeth's  eldest  son  speaks  of  him  as  Colonel 
Charnace,"  in  his  letters  to  his  mother  of  1636. 


172 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


thus/'  said  Elizabeth,  "  I  will  tell  you  my  mind  freely. 
The  King  my  husband,  before  his  death,  sent  to  the  King 
your  master,  and  desired  his  assistance,  but  was  altogether 
neglected.^  Since  his  death  I  wrote  to  the  King  your 
master,  as  I  did  to  all  other  Princes;  but  to  this  day  he  never 
thought  me  worthy  of  an  answer.  Small  reason  have  I  to 
trust  to  his  help,  so  long  as  he  denies  the  unquestionable 
right  and  title  of  my  son,  and  gives  it  to  our  mortal  enemy, 
a  usurper  ! This  was  the  powerful  office  of  Elector  Pala- 
tine and  Vicar-General  of  the  Empire,  who  actually  had  to 
govern  the  Empire  in  any  interregnum,  from  the  decease 
of  one  Emperor  to  the  election  of  his  successor.  It  had 
been  given  by  the  Diet  to  the  Duke  of  Bavaria.  No  doubt 
Richelieu  would  have  been  charmed  at  the  opportunity  of 
molesting  the  German  Emperor  by  questioning  it ;  but 
there  are  some  private  national  customs  which  cannot  be 
interfered  with  by  potentates  of  the  same  church.  Why, 
what  would  you  have  our  King  do?''  replied  Charnasse, 
he  cannot  make  a  German  Elector  ! "  No,  nor  unmake 
him  either,''  retorted  EHzabeth.  Madame/'  observed 
Charnasse,  our  King  hath  done  no  more  than  the  King 
your  brother,  who  gave  not  your  son  the  title  of  Elec- 
tor until  he  sent  him  the  order.  As  for  the  Marquis  of 
Brandenburg,^  he  doth  not  give  it  him  yet."  Charles  I. 
only  acted  according  to  etiquette,  which  in  this  instance 
was  regulated  by  good  sense,  elector  being  rather  a  func- 
tion than  a  title,  and  not  exercised  by  minors.  He  had 
sent  his  nephew  the  Order  of  the  Garter  soon  after  he 
entered  his  eighteenth  year,  on  Christmas  Eve,  1634. 

Then  the  unscrupulous  French  negotiator  took  the 
opportunity  of  pressing  on  Elizabeth  the  advantages  which 
would  accrue  to  her  family,  if,  by  means  of  entering  into 

1  Several  passages  in  Letters  of  Frederic  to  Elizabeth—  Bromley  Papers. 
Such  was  the  case ;  and  the  detail  is  involved  in  that  maze  of  ciphers  of 
which  Elizabeth  had  the  key.  It  is  not  particularly  appropriate,  where 
it  occurs,  to  her  personal  life. 

^  Both  George  William  and  his  successor  Frederic  William,  called  the 
Great  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  were  devotedly  loyal  to  the  Emperor,  which 
cauHcd  them  severe  sufferings,  until  the  elector  gave  the  Swedes  tremendous 
reverses.  They  were  as  nearly  related  to  Elizabeth's  son  as  Charles  by 
the  marriage  of  his  father's  sister,  Charlotte,  to  George  WiUiam. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


173 


alliance  with  France,  or  rather  his  patron,  Elchelieu,  her 
sons  could  successfully  rival  her  royal  brother  in  Eng- 
land. This  unprincipled  proposition,  which  in  after  times 
was  not  always  made  in  vain  to  scions  of  the  royal  family 
of  Stuart,  was  met  by  the  high-minded  Elizabeth  with  the 
feelings  to  which  every  heart,  true  to  the  sacred  cause  of 
family  friendship,  will  respond.  The  French  agent  insinu- 
ated to  her,  in  terms  dark  enough,  excepting  to  persons 
acquainted  with  the  innermost  springs  that  worked  the  policy 
of  that  day,  how  much  it  behoved  the  interest  of  her  sons 
to  have  a  strong  party  in  England,  likely  to  raise  their  cause 
in  opposition  to  their  uncle  and  his  family."  Elizabeth  in- 
stantly comprehended  the  incendiary  meaning.  She  disdained 
to  reply  in  enigmas,  but  honestly,  and  without  the  possibi- 
lity of  mistake,  said,  Rather  than  do  anything  myself,  or 
that  my  children  should  in  the  slightest  degree  touch  King 
Charles  my  brother's  honour  [dignity],  T  will  see  them 
all  lie  dead  at  my  feet.  And/'  continued  Elizabeth,  if 
any  of  them  should  be  so  degenerate  as  to  consent  to  any 
such  thing,  I  will  give  them  my  curse  !  " — words  that  fell 
not  in  vain,  as  the  after  acts  of  the  English  tragedy  can 
prove.  The  noble-minded  lady  immediately  communicated 
this  conversation  with  Charnasse  to  the  envoy  of  her  brother, 
Sir  WlUIam  Boswell,  who  wrote  it  in  his  Despatches  from 
the  Hague  to  Charles  I.^ 

Notwithstanding  the  Calvinistic  profession  of  the  Palati- 
nate, and  the  Princes  education  there,  the  livelier  spirits  in- 
digenous to  Southern  Germany  had  retained  some  of  the 
amusements  of  the  old  faith,  which  Luther's  reform,  the  first 
established  on  the  Rhine,  had  either  winked  at  or  approved. 
The  Carnival,  for  instance,  had  always  been  kept  in  the 
family  of  Elizabeth  with  merry  and  mad  fun.  Sometimes 
the  mumming,  masking,  and  revelling  at  her  abode  had 
rather  astonished  the  Mynheers  ;  yet  as  the  Hague  was  the 
water-portal  of  Europe,  and  being  used  to  the  customs  of 
many  nations,  the  said  Mynheers  had  not  objected.  But 
this  year  a  mask  of  Yagers,  performed  by  the  young  Elector 

^  State-Papers,  March  29, 1635.  To  form  an  accurate  notion  of  this  date, 
it  must  be  remembered  that,  but  four  days  previously,  it  was  1634-35. 


174 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Palatine  and  his  brothers  Rupert,  Maurice,  and  Edward, 
their  songs,  dances,  hallooing,  and  other  jovialties,  happened 
so  inopportunely,  as  perfectly  to  enrage  a  solemn  body  of 
English  puritans  just  come  from  their  own  country  with  a 
godly  condolence,  to  see  how  the  insinuations  of  Charnasse 
had  worked  in  the  mind  of  their  King's  sister.  And  some 
other  puritans  in  Elizabeth's  service  joined  in  condemning 
the  wickedness  of  the  young  Elector,  Charles  Louis,  and  his 
brethren.  All  these  small  vexations,  aggravating  her  con- 
tinual cares,  impaired  the  health  of  Elizabeth.  The  nervous 
fever  of  anxiety  again  degenerated  into  the  intermittent 
fever  of  the  previous  year.  So  long  the  quotidian  held  her, 
that  the  succeeding  May  (1635)  found  her  unable  to 
rise  from  her  bed,  or  stand  without  support.  Until  then, 
time  had  laid  a  lenient  hand  on  her  beauty.  Now  sickness 
and  grief  began  to  leave  their  prints  on  her  countenance. 
It  was  a  year  of  intolerable  suspense  and  expectation.  Her 
eldest  son  considered  himself  old  enough  to  head  an  army  of 
his  subjects,  who  offered  to  raise  his  banners  in  the  High 
Palatinate,  and  re-conquer  his  rights.  How  they  were  to 
be  paid  and  subsisted  was  another  affair.  Even  if  money 
could  be  raised,  it  could  not  be  eaten.  The  patient  Ger- 
man boors  had  lost  that  confidence  in  the  future  which 
every  man  must  have  who  tills  the  earth  and  commits  seed 
to  its  bosom.  For  twenty  years  in  the  fertile  land  of 
Southern  Germany,  whatsoever  the  peasant  sowed  was 
reaped  or  down-trodden  by  the  soldiers  of  Wallenstein  or 
the  Swede.  The  land  was  no  longer  cultivated ;  famines 
of  the  most  fearful  species  ensued.  Heavy  above  all  they 
brooded  over  the  beautiful  Palatinate,  where  the  hapless 
peasants  were  found  dead  by  the  roadside  or  in  the  woods, 
having  thrust  tufts  of  grass  in  their  mouths,  vainly  trying 
thus  to  appease  the  cravings  of  hunger.^  The  Swedish 
Chancellor  Oxenstiern  came  in  embassy  to  Elizabeth  on 
the  subject  of  her  son's  approaching  majority.  His  son  Peter 
went  to  Charles  1. ;  many  reports  were  afloat  concerning  the 
hand  of  the  young  Swedish  Queen,  Christina,  being  bestowed 
on  the  eldest  son  of  Elizabeth  at  this  period,  which  came  to 

1  Spanheim.  Benger. 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


175 


notlimg.i  The  bitterness  of  her  fallen  fortunes  pressed  on 
the  heart  of  Elizabeth,  and  a  contrast  was  drawn  between 
her  expatriated  son  and  the  power  of  the  young  northern 
Queen.  The  result  of  these  negotiations  was,  that  Charles  I. 
sent  a  kind  invitation  to  his  two  eldest  nephews.^  It  was 
thought  desirable  for  the  young  Elector  Palatine  to  com- 
plete his  eighteenth  year  at  the  court  of  his  uncle,  1635, 
the  birthday  of  his  legal  majority,  he  being  born  December 
24,  1617.  He  was  received  with  paternal  kindness  by 
Charles  I.,  a  noble  sum,  amounting  to  more  than  £15,000 
per  annum,  appointed  for  his  support,  and  a  negotiation 
entered  into  for  that  division  of  the  Swedish  army  which 
was  commanded  by  the  Duke  Bernard  of  Saxe- Weimar. 
The  expected  death  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  II.,  the 
implacable  enemy  of  the  young  Elector's  father,  gave  hopes 
to  Elizabeth  that  her  brother's  application  at  the  Court  of 
Vienna,  for  the  restoration  of  his  nephew,  would  have  some 
success.  Alas  !  little  more  than  one-half  of  the  dreadful 
Thirty  Years'  War  had  then  rolled  over  Europe  ;  the 
worst  of  its  horrors  was  to  come.  Civil  war  was  on  the 
verge  of  extending  its  flames  to  England.^ 

Elizabeth  remained  at  the  Hague  with  her  daughters  :  her 
brother,  as  a  pledge  of  his  friendship,  gave  her  name  to  a 
new-born  daughter,  that  younger  Elizabeth  Stuart  who  came 
into  a  world  of  woe  at  the  close  of  the  year  1635.  Her 
years  of  misery  were  fewer  than  those  of  her  aunt  and  name- 
sake; her  gifts  of  talents,  temper,  and  beauty,  as  excellent. 
Charles  I.,  in  the  midst  of  his  poverty,  and  the  agitations 
around  him,  was  intent  on  relieving  England  from  the 
discontent  occasioned  by  the  redundance  of  population 
which  long  peace  had  fostered.  His  father's  noble  colony 
of  Virginia,  and  his  own  colony  of  Maryland,  suggested 
the  plan  of  a  great  English  colony  in  the  East  Indies.  The 
delight  the  young  Palatine  Princes  had  always  taken  in 
naval  affairs  in  their  alluvial  home  of  Holland,  gave  him 
the  idea  of  making  the  younger  sons  leaders  of  emigration.^ 

1  Benger. 

2  Toone's  Chronology.  Howell,  in  his  letters  of  January  2,  1635-36,  says 
both  brothers  had  been  some  time  in  England. 

^  Toone's  Chronology.  *  Howell's  Letters. 


176 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Lord  Craven  conducted  Rupert  to  England  in  the  winter 
of  1635-36.  He  was  his  raother^s  best-beloved  son,  although 
she  joked  much  in  her  correspondence  with  Sir  Harry  Vane, 
the  elder,  calling  him  Robert  le  Diable,"  describing  in 
his  uncouth  manners  a  certain  compound  of  shyness  and 
ferocity,  which  modern  parlance  calls  "  cubbishness,'"  very 
different  from  his  handsome  brother  Charles  Louis,  who 
soon  became  popular  among  the  ladies  of  his  uncle's  court,^ 
for  the  latter  was  courtly  notwithstanding  his  inherent  ill 
nature. 

I  fear,"  wrote  liis  motber  soon  after  his  arrival,  "  that  mon  envoye  will 
not  make  altogether  so  many  compliments  as  my  Lord  of  Carlisle  does  ;  yet 
I  hope^  for  blood  sake,  he  will  be  welcome,  though  I  believe  he  will  not 
trouble  the  ladies  with  courting  them,  nor  be  thought  a  very  heau  gargon, 
which  you  slander  his  brother  with." 

Rupert,  who  was  then  sixteen,  was  tall,  manly,  and  ro- 
bust, devoted  to  practical  science,  and  also  to  abstruse 
learning ;  by  no  means  elegant  in  features,  and  slovenly  ex- 
cepting when  on  horseback  in  the  day  of  battle,  ready  for  the 
fiery  charge.  His  mother  entreated  the  English  diplomatist 
to  give  good  counsel  to  her  Rupert  when  thus  emerging  into 
public  life.  "  Tell  him  when  he  does  ill,  for  he  is  good- 
natured  enough,  but  does  not  always  think  of  what  he  should 
do.''  Could  Elizabeth  have  looked  forward  to  the  colonial 
powers  of  Great  Britain,  she  would  not  have  committed  her 
great  fault  in  opposing  her  brother's  plan  for  the  em- 
ployment and  advancement  of  her  younger  sons.  Rupert 
ardently  entered  into  his  royal  uncle's  plans.  But  his 
mother  thought  that  carrying  on  the  war  by  the  banks  of 
the  Rhine,  with  a  handful  of  mercenary  troopers,  filling 
graves  as  early  in  life  as  Duke  Christian,  Mansfelt,  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus,  and  their  father,  was  a  better  fate  for 
her  young  German  princes  than  leading  the  van  of  Eng- 
lish colonisation.  She  mocked  at  the  East  India  expedi- 
tion Charles  I.  was  fitting  out,  and  rather  insultingly 
declared,  "  that  it  was  a  Quixotic  scheme,"  and  no  son  of 
hers  should  roam  the  world  as  knight-errant." ^    Then  she 

^  State  Papers — Holland  Correspondence,  Jan.  23  (old  style),  1635-36. 
*  Howell's  Letters,  January  2, 1635-36. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


177 


commissioned  the  Dutch  Councillor  Rusdorf,  "  who  was  in 
England  on  business,  to  urge  to  Rupert  his  dignified 
station  as  a  German  prince ;  the  grief  into  which  he 
would  plunge  her,  his  mother,  his  young  sisters,  and  his  aged 
grandmother,  the  Electress  Juliana ;  and  how  much  more 
fitting  it  would  be  for  him  to  exert  his  youthful  prowess 
against  his  ancestral  enemies/'  Young  Rupert,  whose  natural 
good  sense  led  him  to  the  useful  and  practical,  listened  with 
great  distaste  to  the  lecture  of  his  mother's  agent.  He 
did  not  profess  Intentions  of  disobedience,  but  his  wishes 
remained  fixed  to  his  voyage.  Then,  Rusdorf  having  de- 
puted Sir  Thomas  Roel  to  communicate  his  ill  success,  she 
wrote  peremptorily  to  recall  Rupert  to  her  at  the  Hague. 
The  young  hero  was  sedulously  studying  marine  architec- 
ture, chemistry,  and  many  other  sciences  conducive  to  his 
royal  uncle's  practical  views.  When  it  Is  remembered  how 
many  brilliant  inventions  emanated^from  Rupert's  mind,  it 
is  grievous  to  find  the  young  navigator,  mineralogist,  and 
chemist,  degenerate  into  the  blood-stained  leader  of  partisan 
warfare,  urged  by  female  prejudices  not  many  degrees  more 
rational  than  those  of  country  ladies  at  the  present  day,  who 
have  a  taste  for  the  military,  and  whose  brothers  must  be 
officers,  and  nothing  else.  The  young  Elector  Palatine, 
Charles  Louis,  kept  up  from  Hampton  Court  an  earnest 
correspondence  with  his  mother,  but  the  earliest  of  his  letters 
preserved  does  not  occur  before  the  end  of  April  1636.  In 
the  course  of  the  despatch,^  which  tells  less  clearly  than  the 
foregoing  narrative  the  state  of  the  English  treaties  with 
the  Emperor  of  Germany  on  behalf  of  the  restoration  of 
the  Palatinate,  carried  on  by  Elizabeth's  old  friend  Lord 
Arundel,  he  alludes  to  his  brother  Rupert,  saying  that 
"  King  Charles  desired  him  to  stay  longer  in  England,  and 
Queen  Henrietta  Maria  wished  the  same;  the  Queen  said, 
'  that  since  he  and  Rupert  had  been  so  long  together,  she 
would  not  have  them  separate;'  and  King  Charles  added, 
^  he  did  not  wish  him,  his  elder  nephew,  to  leave  his  court 
until  he  had  agreed  for  his  being  put  in  possession  of 

1  State  Papers— Roe's  Correspondence,  1636.         2  Bromley  Letters. 

VOL.  vm.  M 


178  ELIZABETH  STUART. 

his  rights,  or  enabled  to  seek  them  by  force  of  arms/" 
As  for  Queen  Henrietta,  with  her  usual  passion  for  conver- 
sions, she  was  busy,  with  her  spiritual  assistants,  besieg- 
ing Rupert's  Protestantism.  As  in  most  cases  w^here  poli- 
tical rehgious  controversy  rages  fierce  and  high,  the  Chris- 
tianity of  that  young  ardent  soul  was  destroyed,  and  per- 
ished under  the  polemic  blows  dealt  it  on  one  side  by  his 
aunt's  priests,  and  on  the  other  side  by  his  mother's  Dutch 
protectors  ;  for  whatsoever  the  one  party  reverenced,  the 
other  mocked  and  pulled  to  pieces.  If  there  is  any  Chris- 
tianity in  professed  controversialists — a  matter  on  which  we 
have  great  doubts  from  historical  experience — it  were  well 
that  they  deeply  meditated  on  the  results  of  their  doings. 
Rupert  owned  to  his  mother,  as  her  letters  declare,  that  if  he 
had  remained  a  few  days  longer  at  Queen  Henrietta's  court, 
''he  should  have  become  a  Roman  Catholic/'  And  the  Queen, 
when  told  of  this  by  Elizabeth,  said  with  her  usual  lively 
eagerness,  that  if  she  had  had  an  idea  of  the  state  of 
Rupert's  mind,  he  should  not  have  departed  as  he  did." 

The  tasks  that  now  devolved  on  Elizabeth  were  far  too 
heavy  for  her  toil-avoiding  temperament.  She  felt  more 
keenly  than  ever  the  loss  of  her  beloved  husband,  whose 
regularity  and  close  attention  to  detail,  although  ill  suited 
to  the  dash  of  partisan  warfare  and  the  rapidity  of  mili- 
tary enterprise,  were  excellent  for  the  patriarchal  govern- 
ment of  a  peaceful  hereditary  State  and  his  own  family. 
As  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Elizabeth  grew  up,  each  testi- 
fied an  inclination  for  a  separate  will  and  way,  and  there  was 
no  sire  to  control  them.  Many  symptoms  of  a  disordered 
and  divided  household  appear  among  the  fragments  extant 
of  her  original  correspondence. 

The  marriage  of  Elizabeth's  eldest  daughter  was  under 
negotiation  both  at  the  English  court  and  that  of  the  Hague. 
Uladislaus,  King  of  Poland,  was  a  suitor  for  the  hand  of 
this  young  lady,  but  the  usual  religious  differences  started 
up.  The  young  Princess  Elizabeth  had  been  brought 
up  a  Calvinist,  which  sect  she  professed  at  the  Plague. 
She  was  now  seventeen,  and  still  attached  to  it.  Her 
warlike  suitor  could  not  marry  her  unless  she  changed  it. 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


179 


Her  royal  uncle  of  England  demanded  toleration  for  liIs 
niece ;  but  the  anti-tolerant  Poles  would  not  consent  to  the 
exercise  on  their  throne  of  any  faith  but  their  own,  althougli 
Uladislaus  told  them  "  that  this  marriage  would  cause  his 
bride's  uncle,  Charles  I.,  to  aid  the  hereditary  claims  of  his 
line  on  the  Svvedish  throne^  then  merely  occupied  by  a  girl, 
Queen  Christina/'  Then  Elizabeth  declared  she  would 
never  be  the  means  of  authorising  an  attack  on  the  only 
child  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.^  She  was  withal  alarmed  lest 
the  treaty  for  this  match  should  disgust  her  faithful  friends 
the  Hogan-Mogans  of  the  Dutch  States.  Speaking  of  the 
Polish  match  for  her  young  Elizabeth,  she  says  very  coolly 
— "  For  myself,  if  it  be  found  good  for  my  son's  affairs,  and 
good  conditions  for  religion,  I  shall  be  content  with  it;  else 
I  assure  you  I  shall  not  desire  it,  my  son  being  more  dear  to 
me  than  all  my  daughters" — an  unjust  sentence,  in  which 
was  probably  comprehended  the  great  unhappiness  and  sore 
family  strife  which  afterwards  tortured  her  declining  years. 
The  pride  of  Ehzabeth's  high  descent,  which  seldom  indeed 
manifested  itself,  now  was  apparent,  though  quietly,  in  an- 
swer to  some  exaggeration  concerning  the  lofty  rank  of  the 
Polish  monarch.^  As  to  the  greatness  of  the  match/'  pur- 
sues Elizabeth,  "  Madame  vaut  Monsieur  is  an  old  French 
proverb ;  but  for  the  King's  [Uladislaus']  person,  there  is 
nothing  to  be  said  against  it,  he  being  a  brave  and  worthy 
prince,  whom  I  honour  very  much."  She  entreated  that  Sir 
Robert  Gordon,  the  envoy  to  Poland  from  Charles  I.,  would 
so  assure  the  Polish  King.  The  grandmother  of  Elizabeth's 
children,  the  Electress  Juliana,  had  been  the  mover  of  this 
project  of  alliance.  She  had  retreated  from  the  unhallowed 
din  of  religious  civil  war,  to  the  protection  of  the  heroic 
Uladislaus,  and  had  perhaps  hoped  to  compose  it  by  the 
sweet  influence  of  the  young  Protestant  bride,  her  grand- 
child; for  Ehzabeth,  Princess  Palatine,  although  possessing 
little  outward  comeliness,  was  remarkable  for  softness  of 
temper  and  mildness  of  expression.  The  aged  Juliana 
earnestly  entreated  that  great  caution  might  be  used,  so  as 
not  to  incense  King  Uladislaus,  her  benefactor. 

1  State  Papers,  Feb.  21,  new  style,  1635-36.  ^  ibid. 


180 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


Althoiigli  the  young  Princess  remained  firm  In  the  Pro- 
testant tenets,  she  evidently  felt  painful  agitation  during 
the  negotiation  of  the  Polish  he^o  for  her  hand,  having 
been  observed  to  blush  deeply  if  his  ambassador  spoke 
to  her  when  her  mother  kept  court  at  her  Hague  resi- 
dence. Before  the  rupture  of  the  maniage  treaty,  the  young 
Elizabeth,  who  was  even  then  the  most  learned  princess  in 
Europe,  declared  her  intention  never  to  enter  into  another 
marriage  negotiation,  but  to  devote  herself  to  a  single  life, 
and  the  pursuit  of  learning  and  philosophy — a  determination 
which  did  not  please  her  mother  ;  anger  between  them  en- 
sued, and  then  forgiveness. 

"  Gordon  had  written  to  Dolben,  whom  your  Majesty  knows,"  wrote  the 
young  Elector  from  the  English  Court  to  his  mother  at  the  Hague,  "  that  the 
Ambassador  of  Poland  was  making  all  haste  to  return  to  Holland,  and  that 
he  would  go  his  half  in  any  wager  that  might  be  laid  for  the  match.  My 
sister  makes  mention,  in  all  her  letters  to  me,  how  happy  she  is  now  in 
seeing  your  Majesty  gracious  to  her  ;  and  as  her  greatest  ambition  is  to  be 
continued  in  your  favour,  like  the  rest  of  your  children,  so  her  only  grief 
would  be  if  you  should  find  any  cause  in  her  to  discontent  you,  or  to  use 
her  with  the  former  coldness.  If  she  should  give  any,  I  would  condemn 
her  sooner  than  anybody ;  for  it  appertaineth  to  me,  who  have  received 
most  favour  from  your  Majesty,  to  have  a  singular  care  that  none  of  us  fail 
in  the  duty  and  obedience  we  owe  you.  Thus  I  will  shut  up  my  long 
tedious  letter."  i 

The  treaty  lingered  some  ttme  afterwards  ;  its  most  satis- 
factory result  was  that  Elizabeth  and  her  daughter  were 
greatly  praised  by  the  puritan  party  in  England  for  their 
firmness  in  their  Protestant  principles,  in  which  they  were 
most  sincere,  but  undeniably  for  conscience  sake,  and  not  to 
court  popularity.  There  was  an  archduchess,  who  would 
have  suited  the  old  Duke  of  Bavaria  much  better,  proposed 
for  the  young  Elector  Palatine.  Sir  Thomas  Eoe  waited 
on  Elizabeth  at  the  Hague,  and  in  an  afternoon  recep- 
tion she  gave  him  at  two  o'clock,  as  soon  as  her  dinner 
was  over,  he  opened  the  marriage  treaty.^  She  flinched 
at  the  marriage  of  her  son  with  the  Emperor's  daugh- 
ter, saying,  "  The  Archduchess  was  many  years  older  than 

^  Bromley  Letters,  April  25.     No  other  date,  and  misplaced  in  the 
collection.    The  events,  however,  date  it  as  in  the  spring  of  1636. 
2  State-Paper  MS.,  April  12  to  22,  1636. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


181 


tlie  Prince,  and  no  comely  person/'  Sir  Thomas  Koe 
replied,  "  Princes'  marriages  did  rather  respect  states  than 
persons  ;  in  this  the  Prince  Elector  married  the  Palatinate 
rather  than  the  Emperor's  daughter,  and  should  more  en- 
deavour to  advance  his  estate  than  please  his  eye  and 
fancy."  Thus  exhorted,  Elizabeth  submitted  the  matter  to 
her  brother,  but  she  foretold  the  ill  success  of  the  embassy 
conducted  by  the  Earl  Marshal  Arundel,  himse^''  a  Roman 
Catholic.  I  know,"  she  said  to  Koe,^  he  loves  my  per- 
son and  my  children  well,  yet  he  is  no  enemy  to  the  House 
of  Austria,  and  I  know  he  loves  not  the  Dutch,  high  nor 
low.  Methinks  he  would  end  the  business  any  way  so  it 
be  peaceably.  Marshal  he  may  be,  yet  not  martially  given 
in  this  business."  Thus  the  perplexed  Queen  consoled  herself 
with  a  pun,  which  Shakespeare  would  not  have  disdained  so 
much  as  he  ought,  but  took  care  that  her  favourite  son  was 
not  afflicted  with  an  old  and  uncomely  bride. 

Charles  Louis  communicates  to  his  mother  the  termina- 
tion of  the  disgrace  of  her  attached  but  blundering  servant 
Nethersole,  who  had  been  let  out  of  durance  vile : — 

"  Sir  Francis  Nether.  >le  hath  kissed  King  Charles's  hand  and  the  Queen's 
hand  ;  the  King  hath  granted  the  continuance  of  his  pension  of  £200,  and 
now  he  means  to  go  back  into  the  country.  I  see  by  your  letter  that  my 
Lord  Bos  well  brought,  that  your  Majesty  is  in  doubt  as  to  what  I  shall  do, 
but  the  King's  goodness  is  so  great  that  he  will  never  press  me  to  anything 
without  your  knowledge." 

Then,  alluding  to  the  Polish  match  for  his  sister,  he  de- 
clares that  the  King  of  Poland  said  he  preferred  to  treat 
with  Charles  I.,  because  he  had  thought  he  would  not  be  so 
strict  in  religion  as  his  sister  Elizabeth,  and  that  Queen  Hen- 
rietta would  aid  him, — 

But,"  continues  the  young  Elector  Palatine,  earnestly,  you  were 
not  deceived  in  what  you  answered,  that  King  Charles  would  not  go 
less  in  that  [the  Protestant  religion]  than  yourself  ;  and  as  for  Queen  Hen- 
rietta, she  was  so  discreet  she  would  not  meddle  with  it." 

The  royal  Pole  had  offered  to  take  the  young  Elizabeth 
for  his  bride  if  she  would  go  to  England  and  place  herself 
for  some  time  under  the  care  of  her  Eoman  Catholic  aunt, 

:  1  Elizabeth  to  Sir  T.  Roe,  State-Paper  MS. 


182 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Queen  Henrietta.  But  the  stormy  aspect  of  the  political 
horizon  in  England  was  alarming  enough  to  inspire  with 
unusual  discretion  on  the  subject  of  conversions  even  the 
Queen  of  Charles  I. 

The  Queen  of  Bohemia  had  sent  for  the  exact  height  of 
her  eldest  son  in  England  by  Sir  John  Mawwood  ;  it  was  to 
be  measured  without  his  boot  heels.  She  gave  no  reason 
for  her  request.  However,  he  guessed  that  it  was  to  com- 
pare his  stature  with  that  of  his  young  brother  Maurice — 
^'at  her  court/'  he  says,  "they  think  him  as  high  as  myself." 
In  his  postscript  he  writes,  I  can  send  the  Countess  of 
Kulemburg  no  fan  because  the  season  is  past,  but  I  will  find 
something  else  for  her.  Surely  if  ever  fans  were  needed  in 
England,  they  must  have  been  at  the  height  of  this  summer.'^ 
Presents  were  often  sent  by  the  English  nobility  to  Elizabeth, 
especially  horses,  she  being  a  daring  rider. 

"  I  am  glad  you  like  my  Lord  of  Holland's  nag  ;  every  one  here  thought 
he  would  be  too  little  for  you  and  too  furious ;  but  I  think  they  said  it 
because  they  saw  me  in  great  want  of  pads  this  progress,  for  they  thought 
him  here  not  fit  for  hunting." 

The  Prince  had  a  commission  for  furnishing  horses  to  re- 
cruit the  division  of  the  Swedish  armv  under  Duke  Bernard 
of  Saxe- Weimar,  which  was  not  progressing  successfully, 
and  says  to  his  mother  regarding  it, — 

"  1  shall  do  my  best  to  get  good  horses  for  Duke  Bernard ;  but  they  are 
at  this  time  hard  to  be  gotten  ;  therefore^  Madam,  make  much  of  them 
you  have.  My  Lord  Stanford  hath  a  roan  which  he  intended  to  send  your 
Majesty  on  my  coming  hither,  one  of  the  handsomest  horses  in  England, 
but  he  fell  lame.  Now,  lately,  he  [Lord  Stamford,  not  the  horse]  told  me 
he  had  found  a  farrier  that  undertook  the  cure  of  him,  and  as  soon  as  he  is 
well  he  will  send  him  over."  ^ 

Elizabeth  passed  the  autumn  at  Rhenen,  hunting  and 
exercising  herself  and  her  English  horses.  Meantime  much 
gossip  and  tale-bearing  circulated  from  her  female  court, 
backwards  and  forwards.  Mrs  Crofts,  who  had  been  the 
favourite  friend  of  the  young  Princess  Palatine,  and  one  of 
her  royal  mother's  ladies-in-waiting,  quarrelled  with  the 
Princess.    She  asked  and  obtained  leave  to  visit  England, 

1  Endorsed  from  Oatlands,  11/22  September  1636. 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


183 


whither  she  went  m  the  winter  of  1637,  and  presently  be- 
came leagued  with  the  Intriguante  Countess  of  Carlisle,  who 
worked  so  much  mischief  In  the  court  of  Charles  I.  To 
the  vexation  of  the  Elector  and  Hupert,  these  ladles 
circulated  a  great  many  vexatious  tales,  giving  satirical 
portraits  of  every  person  in  the  Queen  of  Bohemia's  house- 
hold for  the  amusement  of  the  courtiers  at  Whitehall.  This 
proceeded  some  time  before  It  came  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  Elector,  who  was  absorbed  In  the  political  negotia- 
tions still  dragging  their  tedious  length  at  the  Emperor's 
court.  At  the  commencement  of  the  New  Year  he  wrote 
to  his  mother,  full  of  joy,  a  letter  from  Theobald's,  that  his 
uncle  had  resolved  to  aid  him  in  the  war  with  his  fleets,  men, 
and  money.  But  In  the  course  of  the  spring  the  machina- 
tions of  Mistress  Crofts,  and  the  tales  she  told  Lord  Craven 
of  the'rude  behaviour  to  her  of  the  sons  of  her  royal  mis- 
tress, elicited  letters  much  more  amusing.  Anticipating  the 
wrath  of  his  Queen-mother,  the  Elector  addressed  her  on 
the  evil  reports  of  Mistress  Crofts,  saying  :  — 

Though  I  am  sure  your  Majesty  maketh  no  doubt  of  my  civil  carriage  to 
Mistress  Crofts,  because  she  was  your  servant,  and  you  commanded  it,  yet 
I  hear  she  is  not  pleased,  and  hath  sent  her  complaint  beyond  sea.  I  do 
not  know  whether  they  are  come  to  your  Majesty's  ears  ;  but  I  easily 
believe  it,  because  she  told  my  Lord  Craven  that  I  used  her  like  a  stranger, 
and  would  not  speak  to  her  before  her  King  and  Queen  [Charles  I.  and 
Queen  Henrietta].  Yet  I  may  truly  say  that  I  have  spoken  more  to  her 
since  she  came  into  England  than  I  did  in  all  my  lifetime  before.  If  your 
Majesty  will  remember  the  ill  opinion  I  had  of  her,  both  before  and  after 
my  sister's  friendship  for  her,  and  if  you  consider  the  quarrel  we  had  a  little 
before  I  went  from  Rhenen  about  Cave  and  Horne,  you  would  not  think  I 
resented  too  much  her  ill  carriage  since  she  has  fallen  out  with  my  sister 
who  now  sees  her  error."  ^ 

Among  other  reports,  Elizabeth  had  been  made  uneasy 
by  some  relating  to  the  great  intimacy  between  Prince 
Rupert  and  the  elegant  Endymion  Porter,  one  of  the  most 
accomplished  cavaliers  at  the  English  court.  Rupert  spent 
much  of  his  time  with  Endymion  ;  and  as  his  wife,  the  beauti- 
ful Olivia,  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  his  Queen-mother  thought 
Rupert's  Protestantism  in  danger. 

1  Bromley  Letters,  May  1637.— Whitehall. 


184 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


"My  brother  Rupert,"  continues  the  letter  above,  "is  still  in  great 
friendship  with  Porter,  yet  I  cannot  but  commend  his  carriage  towards  me, 
though  when  I  ask  him  what  he  means  to  do,  he  is  very  shy  to  tell  me  his 
opinion.  I  bid  him  take  heed  he  do  not  meddle  with  points  of  religion 
among  them,  for  fear  some  priest  or  other  is  too  hard  for  him.  Besides, 
M.  Condoth  frequents  that  house  very  often,  for  Mistress  Porter  is  a  pro- 
fessed Roman  Catholic.  Which  way  to  get  my  brother  Rupert  away  I 
know  not,  unless  I  come  with  him  myself.  Doctors  Spina  and  Hausman 
desired  to  go  over  to  their  wives  until  T  have  further  employment  for  them."* 

Elizabeth  demanded  of  him  a  specific  account  of  all  that 
her  attendant,  Mistress  Crofts,  had  said  of  the  interior  of  her 
palace  at  the  Hague,  to  which  the  Elector  thus  replies  : — 

I  cannot  tell  your  Majesty  particularly  what  discourse  Mistress  Crofts 
makes  of  them  she  left  beyond  sea,  but  I  heard  that  the  third  or  fourth 
night  after  she  arrived  she  gave  the  characters  of  all  at  the  Hague  to  my 
Lady  Carlisle,  which  I  heard  by  one  that  overheard  them,  but  would  not 
tell  them  any  particulars,  only  saying  that  Hhey  were  particularly  well 
sketched,'  and  *  her  censure  sharp  enough.'  I  did  not  inquire  what  counsel 
she  gave  my  brother  Rupert,  but  he  told  me  the  other  day  that  *  she  would 
not  look  upon  him.'  It  is  now  in  your  power  never  to  be  troubled  with 
her  more,  for  though  I  hear  she  has  promised  your  Majesty  to  the  con- 
trary, if  she  once  more  returns  you  will  never  be  rid  of  her.  As  for  me, 
I  will  do  her  all  the  help  I  can  if  she  will  stay  in  England,  for  I  wish 
her  no  other  ill  than  that  she  may  not  return  to  your  Majesty,  let  her  do 
us  here  as  much  mischief  as  she  can.  There  is  spread  over  all  the  town, 
and  every  one  maketh  their  judgments  of  it  according  to  their  several  affec- 
tions, that  my  Lady  Livingstone  hath  given  my  sister  a  box  on  the  ear  before 
twenty  people  in  the  Prince  of  Orange's  garden,  and  did  not  so  much  as 
ask  her  pardon  after  it."  ^ 

EHzabeth's  eldest  daughter,  the  Princess  Palatine  Eliza- 
beth, wooed  by  the  King  of  Poland,  is  the  recipient  of  this 
box  on  the  ear.  Lady  Livingstone  was  state  governess 
to  the  younger  children  ;  but  it  is  probable  that  Charles 
Louis  means  the  Countess  de  Loewenstein,  the  widow,  his 
father's  relative,  and  his  mother's  first  lady.  He  continues 
the  subject  of  the  gossip  circulating  from  his  mother's  house- 
hold to  the  Court  at  Whitehall,  by  the  means  of  the  lady  of 
his  aversion.  Mistress  Crofts,  a  person  high  in  his  Queen- 
mother's  favour.  But  his  idea  is  evidently  that  she  was  sent 
over  to  England  to  report  the  conduct  of  himself  and  Eupert 

"  Your  Majesty,"  he  resumes,  "  will  not,  I  do  believe,  take  it  well  of 
those  who  write  over  every  foolish  thing  that  happens  in  your  court ;  for 


^  Bromley  Letters,  24th  May — Whitehall. 


2  Ibid. 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


185 


here  they  always  make  the  worst  of  it.  I  canDot  but  believe  that  the  box 
on  the  ear  was  given  in  jest,  seeing  I  heard  nothing  of  it  from  my  sister  her- 
self. I  see  that  your  Majesty  hath  no  great  opinion  of  the  treaty  of  Ham- 
burg, neither  is  there  any  great  hopes  that  ifc  will  have  any  success,  because, 
as  is  reported  here,  the  King  of  Hungary  [soon  after  Ferdinand  III.]  hath 
forbid  them  to  permit  any  treaty  in  their  town.  This  may  be  a  fiction, 
but  any  place  will  be  as  good." 

The  death  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  II.  brought  all  the 
tedious  diplomacy  to  an  end ;  his  son,  Ferdinand  III.,  was 
crowned  without  the  services  of  the  young  Elector  Palatine 
as  Vicar  of  the  Empire ;  Duke  Max  of  Bavaria  and  his 
young  babe  retained  the  High  Palatinate  ;  King  Uladislaus 
married  the  ancient  and  uncomely  Archduchess  provided  for 
EHzabeth's  handsome  young  Elector.  Elizabeth,  who  was 
determined  to  prevent  Hupert  becoming  a  leader  of  colo- 
nisation, wrote  her  mind  on  that  head  to  her  friend,  Sir 
Thomas  Roe,  speaking  scornfully  of  "  Rupert's  romance  of 
Madagascar,"  adding  the  following  sarcasm,  not  at  her  son 
so  much  as  at  the  originator  of  the  expedition,  Charles  I.: — 

It  sounds  like  one  of  Don  Quixote's  conquests,  when  he  promises  his 
trusty  squire  to  make  him  king  of  an  island.  I  heard  of  it  some  fourteen 
days  ago,  and  thereupon  I  writ  a  letter  to  divert  him  from  it,  as  a  thing 
neither  feasible,  safe,  nor  honourable  for  him.  Since  then,  I  have  received 
a  letter  from  Sir  Harry  Vane,  who  writes  of  it  as  a  fine  thing ;  which  I 
cannot  enough  wonder  at.  I  answered  him  plainly  I  did  not  like  of  it ;  I 
thought  it  not  fit  nor  safe  to  send  him,  the  second  brother  " — [Rupert  was 
indeed  the  next  heir  to  the  broken  dominions  of  the  Palatinate] — "  when 
there  was  work  enough  to  be  had  for  him  in  Europe.  Besides,  I  thought  if 
Madagascar  was  a  place  either  worth  the  taking  or  possible  to  be  kept,  the 
Portuguese  by  this  time  would  have  had  it,  having  so  long  time  possessed 
the  coast  of  Africa  near  to  it !  "  i 

It  is  certain  that,  besides  the  impossibility  of  her  acting 
in  opposition  to  her  partisans,  the  Dutch,  Elizabeth  could 
not  enter  into  the  practical  views  of  her  brother,  whose 
colonies  ought  to  raise  the  blush  of  shame  on  his  ungrateful 
countrymen  when  they  calumniate  him. 

Elizabeth  could  not  deprive  her  son  Rupert  of  the  results 
of  many  months  of  preparation  for  her  brother's  project  of 
an  East  Indian  colony — preparation  for  a  high  rank  of 
human  dignity,  when  tested  by  the  touchstone  of  reality 
— for  the  glorious  office  of  the  practical,  the  intrepid,  and 

1  Elizabeth  to  Sir  T.  Roe,  May  6/16,  1637— State-Paper  MS. 


\ 


186 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


sagacious  leader  of  emigration.  Yet,  owiDg  to  liis  mother's 
perverse  pride,  Madagascar,  with  all  its  profusion  of  natural 
advantages,  groans  to  this  hour  under  the  yoke  of  a  foul 
and  fierce  paganism. 

There  was  some  correspondence  between  Archbishop 
Laud  and  Elizabeth,  which  can  surprise  no  one  who  re- 
members that  he  was  one  of  the  clergy  about  court  during 
her  youth  ;  he  had,  moreover,  visited  her  at  the  Hague. 
He  had  responded  to  her  request  for  subscriptions  and  briefs 
in  churches  for  the  unfortunate  Protestants  of  the  Palatin- 
ate* in  a  manner  which  insured  her  affectionate  gratitude. 
To  his  influence  she  appealed  for  the  restoration  of  her  re- 
luctant Rupert.  "I  have,''  wrote  Eh'zabeth^  to  Laud  from 
Rhenen  the  same  summer,  beseeched  the  King,  my  dear 
brother,  to  give  my  Eupert  leave  to  come  over  now  speedily, 
that  he  may  accompany  the  Prince  [of  Orange]  this  year  to 
the  field."  This  was  to  the  siege  of  Breda — a  citadel  never 
long  in  the  possession  of  either  Dutch  or  Spaniards,  every 
stone  of  which  might  have  been  cemented  with  human 
blood.  Laud  prevailed  on  Charles  L  to  resign  the  unwill- 
ing Rupert,  who  being  allowed  by  his  uncle  a  pension 
amounting  to  .£^200  per  month,  put  himself  at  his  mother's 
disposal  in  June  1637.  The  young  Elector  embarked  with 
Rupert  from  the  naval  palace  at  Greenwich,  returned  to 
their  mother,  and  soon  after  may  be  traced  at  Breda  with 
the  Prince  of  Orange;  and  in  August  the  same  year  both  were 
in  the  field  with  a  small  army,  which  the  hope  of  the  Eng- 
lish subsidies  kept  together.  Elizabeth  having  stripped  her- 
self of  all  the  cash  possible,  her  devoted  friend,  Lord  Craven, 
took  the  field  with  them,  having  generously  contributed 
d&l 0,000  of  his  great  fortune  to  her  cause,  and  promising 
solemnly  to  keep  her  boy  Rupert  under  his  guidance.  In 
addition  to  the  recruits  levied  among  the  towns  of  the  Rhine 
they  had  formerly  commanded,  the  young  princes  were  in 
treaty  for  the  hire  of  one  of  those  villanous  bodies  of  free- 
booters, which  were  the  worst  plagues  of  tortured  Germany. 
This  body  of  rogues  called  themselves  Swedes.  They  pre- 
tended to  demur  until  the  Regency  of  the  child-Queen  of 
1  State-rapcr  MS.,  June  1637. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


187 


Sweden  gave  tliem  leave  to  marcli  under  the  Palatine  ban- 
ners. Now  appears  the  first  evidence  of  selfishness  in  a 
letter  to  Elizabeth  from  her  eldest  son,  who  blames  her  for 
her  maternal  care  in  securing  to  her  second  daugliter,  Louisa, 
as  a  future  provision,  some  of  the  money  she  had  received 
from  Charles  I.  He  likewise  complains,  with  better  reason, 
that  jewels  had  been  bought  with  some  of  the  money  that 
his  father  had  put  to  use  at  the  Amsterdam  bank  of  the 
sum  paid  for  the  sale  of  the  district  of  Lixheim  to  the 
Duke  of  Lorraine/  He  acknowledges  the  great  bounty  of 
Charles  L  to  him,  but  adds  that  Comptroller  Vane  had 
observed,  that 

"  The  Queen  of  Bohemia  must  not  expect  to  have  her  arrears  paid ;  but 
I  hope  your  Majesty  will  not  be  content  with  that  base  saying,  but  will  still 
solicit  them.  If  this  be  true,  he  is  the  falsest  fellow  that  ever  was,  for  he 
assured  me  the  contrary.  It  is  likely  he  gives  King  Charles  this  advice 
'pour  faire  a  bon  valet 

The  rapacity  evident  throughout  this  letter,  of  which 
Elizabeth  had,  through  the  remainder  of  her  life,  constant 
specimens  from  her  eldest  son,  was  a  trait  probably  brought 
out  in  his  young  mind  by  his  position  as  the  head  of  a  mer- 
cenary army. 

Breda  fell  to  the  arms  of  the  Calvinist  party,  but  Eliza- 
beth lost  an  excellent  friend  and  near  relative  of  her  hus- 
band's, the  Prince  of  Hesse-Cassei.  She  left  Ehenen,  her 
country  seat,  for  the  Hague  earlier  than  usual  that  autumn, 
and  gives  a  sketch  of  her  occupations,  her  feelings,  and  her 
news,  in  a  letter  to  Sir  Thomas  Koe,  commencing,  as  usual, 
with 

"  Honest  Tom, — 1  have  not  written  to  you  for  lack  of  matter,  when  I 
was  at  Rhenen.  I  could  send  you  no  news  of  anything  but  the  death  of 
hares,  and  which  horse  ran  best ;  which,  though  I  say  it  that  should 
not  say  it,  was  mine  own.  But,  at  my  coming  away,  the  joy  of  the  taking 
of  Breda  was  much  abated  by  the  loss  of  the  brave  worthy  Landgrave, 
which,  I  confess  to  you,  troubled  me  not  a  little.  You  know  how  much 
cause  I  have  for  it.  But  we  must  not  lose  courage  for  all  that.  My  son 
has  now  more  reason  than  ever  to  make  himself  considerable  ;  therefore 
he  is  desirous  to  take  the  Landgrave's  army  to  himself,  and  did  send 


^  Bromley  Letters,  dated  from  the  army,  August  27,  1637, 
2  State  Papers,  October  21,  1637. 


188 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Horneck,  one  of  his  gentlemen,  thither,  to  sound  the  minds  of  the  officers 
and  the  Landgravine  [Amelia  of  Hesse],  who  show  themselves  all  willing 
to  have  him,  so  that  he  can  find  means  to  make  them  subsist.  Therefore 
he  has  given  Sir  Richard  Cave  order  to  humbly  beseech  the  King,  my  dear 
brother,  that  he  will  bestow  somewhat  upon  him  to  help  his  beginning." 

The  "  young  Weimar  hero/'  Duke  Bernard,^  however, 
stepped  forward  to  bid  for  the  Hessian  army  and  the  hand 
of  the  spirited  Landgravine.  The  Palatine  family  were 
mortified  more  ways  than  one  by  this  arrangement ;  for 
when  Duke  Bernard  visited  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  at  the 
Hague,  he  was  supposed  to  be  a  suitor  for  the  hand  of  her 
eldest  daughter. 

One  of  the  last  tournaments  was  performed  at  the  Hague 
on  occasion  of  the  marriage  of  a  young  Countess  of  Solms, 
sister  of  the  Princess  of  Orange  and  one  of  Elizabeth's  ladies, 
with  Baron  de  Brederode.  The  Queen  herself  revived  some 
of  her  former  splendour,  as  much  as  was  consistent  with  her 
habit  of  widowhood,  which,  in  compliance  with  the  custom 
then  prevalent  in  Europe,  she  wore  through  life.  Her  two 
eldest  sons  were  the  chevaliers  par  excellence^  tilting  in  the 
costume  of  the  Abencerrages,  each  on  a  white  horse,  at- 
tended by  the  officers  who  were  to  assist  them  in  their  en- 
suing campaign.  They  renewed  these  chivalric  exercises 
frequently  until  they  took  the  field.^  Elizabeth  went  early 
to  Rhenen  that  summer,  where  her  young  warriors  came  to 
see  her  occasionally.  She  had  to  leave  her  country  resi- 
dence in  the  ensuing  August,  in  order  to  receive  Marie  de 
Medicis,  Queen-mother  of  France,  who  unexpectedly  ar- 
rived there,  retiring  before  the  malice  of  Richelieu  just  pre- 
viously to  taking  refuge  in  England.  "  I  came  here  from 
Khenen/'  she  says  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe,^  to  receive  Queen- 
mother.  Her  coming  hither  will  make  you  not  a  little 
wonder.  She  doth  use  me  very  kindly,  but  keeps  her 
greatness  enough,  for  she  kissed  none  but  me ; "  that  is,  at 
the  presentations  which  took  place  at  the  Castle  of  the 
Hague  to  the  widow  of  Henry  IV.,  that  Queen  greeted 

^  Duke  Bernard  died  before  he  received  the  hand  of  the  Landgravine 
Ameha,  and  the  command  of  her  army. 

2  State  Papers,  January  to  February  1637-38. 

3  State-Paper  MS.,  Hague,  August  1638. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


189 


no  one  with  the  salutation  usual  between  the  royalty  of 
France  and  ladies  of  noble  degree,  excepting  Elizabeth, 
the  sister-in-law  of  her  daughter  Henrietta.  Thus  Marie  de 
Medicis  ignored  the  rank  of  the  Nassau  family,  and  as  for 
the  dignitaries  at  the  Hague,  their  wives  were  treated  as 
yoke-mates  to  fellows  of  no  reckoning,  trading  burghers. 
Such  arrogance  of  etiquette,  especially  to  the  House  of 
Orange,  descended  from  the  elder  line  of  Charlemagne,  pro- 
voked recriminations  on  the  medical  and  mercantile  pros- 
perity of  the  House  of  Medicis.  As  the  "  Queen-mother" 
had  arrived  at  the  Hague  somewhat  like  a  suppliant,  her 
proceedings  betrayed  her  usual  lack  of  wisdom.  While 
waiting  for  an  invitation  to  pay  that  fatal  visit  to  England, 
which  proved  the  impetus  to  Charles  I.'s  calamities,  Eliza- 
beth was  forced  to  remain  with  her  at  the  Hague  or  the 
rural  palace  of  th^  Nassau^s,  Houndlersdike.  She  then  saw 
enough  of  the  perversity  of  the  royal  fugitive  to  dread  the 
visitation  meditated  by  her  to  the  Court  of  England,  fearing 
much  for  her  brother,  who,  notwithstanding  the  hospitality 
he  extended  to  his  wife's  distressed  parent,  when  she  ulti- 
mately threw  herself  upon  him  uninvited,  was  most  unwilling 
to  receive  her  with  her  train  of  Roman  Catholic  ecclesiastics, 
inflaming  the  prejudices  of  his  people  against  his  wife's 
religious  establishment.  Elizabeth  thus  shrewdly  alludes 
to  the  sudden  departure  of  the  unwelcome  guest  for  Eng- 
land, in  one  of  her  letters  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  as,  despite  of 
all  hints  from  Charles  I.'s  residents,  Boswell  and  Sir  Richard 
Cave,  of  excuse,  she  set  off  for  England  the  beginning  of 
October.  Cave  only  waits  for  a  wind,  which  is  yet  con- 
trary. I  think  Queen-mother  is  cause  of  it ;  for  she  is 
gone  very  suddenly  from  hence,  with  scarce  taking  leave, 
towards  England,  though  Sir  William  Boswell  did  all  he 
could  to  detain  her.  I  think  the  wind  loves  our  country  in 
keeping  her  as  long  as  it  can  out  of  it/'  ^ 

When  this  troublesome  guest  relieved  Elizabeth  from  the 
ceremonials  requisite  on  her  sojourn  at  the  Hague,  she  re- 
turned to  Ehenen,  in  the  vicinity  of  which  her  eldest  son 
mustered  his  army  of  many  nations.  EHzabeth  bade  farewell 
^  State-Paper  MS.,  October  2/12,  1638. 


190 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


to  her  two  sons,  Charles  and  Rupert,  who  left  her  at  Ehenen, 
and  marched  into  Westphalia,  with  the  intention  of  striking 
a  good  blow  for  the  Lower  Palatinate.  Unfortunately  the 
veteran  Imperialist  troops  were  resting  on  their  arms,  on 
account  of  some  treaty  going  on,  and  their  general,  Hatzfelt, 
on  this  inbreak,  drove  the  Elector  Palatine  before  a  vast 
superiority  of  force  from  the  siege  of  Lippe.  Near  this  town, 
the  Palatine  Princes  engaged,  with  their  small  force  of  4000 
men,  one  wing  of  the  Imperial  general's  army.  So  despe- 
rate was  the  onset  of  Eupert  and  Lord  Craven  that  victory 
was  nearly  carried  by  a  coup-de-main^  and  would  have  been 
complete  if  the  purchased  Swedish  army  had  not  suddenly 
deserted  and  fled.  The  attendants  of  the  Elector  Palatine, 
seeing  all  was  lost,  forced  him  from  the  field;  but  the  young 
lion,  Rupert,  was  not  so  easily  to  be  torn  from  his  first 
taste  of  slaughter ;  he  fought  on  frantically  until  he  was 
overwhelmed  by  mere  weight  of  numbers.  Lord  Craven 
and  Count  Ferentz,  who  would  not  leave  him,  were  taken 
prisoners  by  his  side.  While  this  desperate  encounter  was 
going  on,  the  Elector  Palatine  retreated  from  the  lost 
battle  to  his  coach,  with  General  King,  and  urged  his 
driver  to  make  towards  Minden  on  the  Weser.^  While 
crossing  this  river  at  a  place  where  there  was  no  ford,  the 
coach  was  overthrown,  and  the  young  Elector  was  immersed 
in  the  river ;  fortunately  coaches  in  those  days  were  only 
waggons  with  leather  curtains.  He  easily  left  it,  and  clung  to 
a  willow,  till  he  was  rescued  from  the  water.  Finally,  he 
got  safely  to  Minden  on  foot,  but  wet  and  weary.  Before 
the  news  came  of  these  disasters,  the  agonies  of  suspense 
Elizabeth  endured  had  told  so  severely  on  her  health  that 
fever  ensued,  and  she  was  obliged  to  be  bled.  Her  arm 
inflamed,  and  her  life  was  in  danger  just  before  the  news 
came  of  the  defeat  on  the  heath  of  Lippe.  Of  the  fate  of 
Rupert  she  was  uncertain,  and  was  betrayed  by  her  appre- 
hensions of  the  perils  of  the  ban  of  the  Empire  under  which 
his  late  attack  on  the  Imperial  forces  had  laid  him,  to  wish 
him  dead  rather  than  a  prisonerg — a  wicked  wish,  of  which 

^  HowcU's  Letters. 

^  State-Paper  MS.- -Elizabeth  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  Nov.  1,  1638. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


191 


her  maternal  heart  speedily  repented,  especially  when  it 
was  found  that  the  Emperor  (mercifully  considering  that 
Rupert  only  sinned  in  bravely  following  the  banner  of  his 
liege  lord  and  brother)  did  no  farther  harm  to  her  young 
hero  than  caging  him.  Elizabeth  was  exasperated  at  the 
conduct  of  her  cousin  Frederic,  Duke  of  Brunswick-Lunen- 
burg, the  brother  of  her  former  champion,  Duke  Christian, 
who  had  sent  1000  men  to  the  aid  of  the  Emperor's  already 
overwhelming  force,  and  very  abusive  are  the  names  she 
calls  him.  Iq  excuse  for  Duke  Frederic,  it  ought  to  be 
remembered  what  sort  of  gentry  the  predatory  Swedish 
troops,  for  which  her  son  Charles  had  made  so  bad  a  bar- 
gain, were,  and  that  they  had  been  living  on  what  they 
could  steal  in  Lower  Germany  for  years,  preying  on  his 
unfortunate  subjects. 

The  flames  of  war  which  the  attack  of  the  Palatine  Elec- 
tor had  ignited,  now  burst  forth  on  every  side.  The 
Swedish  generalissimo  and  co-regent  Bannier  marched  on 
the  country  of  Lunenburg  to  revenge  the  overthrow  the 
Duke  had  given  the  Swedish  banner.  He  can  do  him,'' 
says  Elizabeth,^  '^no  more  harm  than  I  wish  him,  for  that 
Tun  of  Beer  [her  cousin,  Frederic  of  Brunswick]  sent  1000 
cuirassiers  against  my  son,  else  the  enemy  durst  not  have 
fought  with  him.  They  write  hither  that  all  my  son's 
troops  did  very  well,  and  were  only  oppressed  by  multi- 
tudes, else  they  had  not  been  beaten.  I  am  sorry  for  my 
Lord  Craven  and  Ferentz.  I  fear  they  will  not  be  so  soon 
released  ;  but  if  Rupert  were  anywhere  but  there,  I  should 
have  my  mind  at  rest/'  A  matter  of  still  more  consequence 
to  the  biography  of  Elizabeth  even  than  her  feelings  on  the 
defeat  of  one  son  and  the  capture  of  the  other,  is  developed 
in  this  letter  of  hers.  The  indifference  with  which  she  men- 
tions the  imprisonment  of  Lord  Craven,  and  even  the  pros- 
pect of  his  long  detention,  ranking  his  loss  and  misfortunes 
completely  with  those  of  Ferentz,  shows  he  was  neither  her 
lover  nor  her  husband.  She  had  been  eight  or  nine  years 
a  widow  ;  Lord  Craven  was  in  the  prime  of  his  heroic  life. 
She  could  have  married  him  without  a  shade  of  blame,  but 
1  State-Paper  MS.— Elizabeth  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  Nov.  6,  1638. 


192  ELIZABETH  STUAET. 

# 

her  expressions  are  not  commonly  grateful  to  him  for  his 
devotion  to  her  cause  and  his  exertions  for  Rupert.  If  there 
was  any  love  in  the  case,  it  was  wholly  on  Lord  Craven's 
side,  for  the  letters,  which  evidently  speak  the  feelings  of 
the  royal  widow's  soul,  are  entirely  bent  on  her  boys  and 
their  disasters.  In  her  answers  to  "  honest  Tom's  "  con- 
dolences on  the  defeat,  she  says, — 

I  confess  the  overthrow  of  the  troops  does  not  much  trouble  me,  they 
were  not  so  many  ;  but  Rupert's  taking  is  all.  I  confess,  too,  that  in  my 
passion  I  did  rather  wish  him  killed.    I  pray  God  I  have  not  more  cause 

to  wish  it  before  he  be  gotten  out  All  my  fear  is  their  going 

to  Vienna,  if  it  were  possible  to  be  hindered."  ^  [Boswell,  in  cipher,  has 
appended  to  her  letter  some  scheme  for  the  escape  of  Rupert.]  "  But  I 
fear,"  adds  Elizabeth,  alluding  to  it,  you  will  think  my  conceit  is  too 
romance[like]  a  one,  yet  such  things  have  been  done.  Mr  Crane,  one  that 
follows  my  Lord  Craven,  is  come  from  Rupert,  who  desired  him  to  assure 
me  that  neither  good  usage  nor  ill  should  ever  make  him  change  his  reli- 
gion or  party.  I  know  his  disposition  is  good,  and  that  he  will  never  dis- 
obey me  at  any  time,  though  to  others  he  was  stubborn  and  wilful.  I  hope 
he  will  continue  so;  yet  I  am  born  to  so  much  affliction  I  dare  not  be  con- 
fident of  it,  but  I  am  comforted  that  my  sons  have  lost  no  honour  in  the 
action,  and  that  him  I  love  best  is  safe." 

Here,  again,  she  confesses  an  unjust  partiality  to  her 
eldest  son,  whose  retreat  in  his  coach-and-four,  while  his 
younger  brother  was  risking  his  life  and  liberty  in  the  most 
desperate  efforts  to  keep  back  his  pursuers,  was  any- 
thing but  admirable;  although,  as  head  of  a  party  and 
the  family  interest,  it  was  his  duty  to  take  care  of  self  in 
particular,  a  duty  he  never  forgot,  though  not  always  to  the 
benefit  of  his  mother  and  her  children,  as  she  found  subse- 
quently to  her  cost.  Rupert  contrived  to  write  some  lines 
to  his  mother,  assuring  her  of  his  steadiness  as  a  Protestant, 
but  urging  her  to  employ  all  his  friends  to  work  for  his 
liberation,  as  he  was  woe-begone  in  his  captivity  in  the 
citadel  of  Vienna.  His  friend,  Lord  Craven,  had  paid  the 
enormous  sum  of  £20,000  for  his  own  ransom,  and  would 
have  paid  higher  even  for  permission  to  share  Rupert's 
prison,  but  it  was  not  suffered. 

The  events  of  the  succeeding  year  brought  to  Elizabeth 


^  State-Paper  MS.- Elizabeth  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  Xov.  6,  1638. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


193 


strange  aggravation  of  her  maternal  anxieties.  Her 
younger  princes,  now  growing  up,  were  in  need  of  gentle- 
manlike accomplishments,  impossible  to  obtain  in  Holland. 
The  rough  manners  and  awkwardness  of  Rupert  any- 
where, excepting  on  a  horse  or  in  a  boat,  had  convinced  his 
mother  that  dancing  and  some  other  training  for  courts  and 
drawing-rooms  were  desirable  for  Maurice,  Edward,  and 
Philip  ;  so  they  were  sent  to  Paris  to  learn  politeness  and 
manners,  and,  through  the  imprudence  of  their  eldest  brother, 
ran  no  little  danger  of  practising  it  as  state  prisoners.  To 
load  the  biography  of  Elizabeth  with  the  tortuous  policy  of 
the  contending  powers  of  Europe  would  be  labour  dire  and 
weary  woe,  but  it  may  be  said  briefly,  that  when  her  friend 
Duke  Bernard  of  Saxe- Weimar  died  in  the  summer  of 
1639,  on  his  return  from  a  diplomatic  visit  to  France,^  she 
was  a  sincere  mourner.  As  the  Hesse  army  was  now 
again  to  be  purchased,  Elizabeth  sent  over  her  eldest  son 
to  England  in  order  to  induce  Charles  I.  to  advance  the 
money.  The  King  agreed  to  give  his  nephew  £25,000  for 
that  purpose,  who  soon  after  sailed  for  France  in  one  of  the 
royal  pleasure-vessels,  was  landed  at  Boulogne  with  the 
honours  of  a  crowned  head,  under  discharges  of  artillery ; 
and  this  pomp,  as  may  be  seen  by  his  letters,  was  very 
agreeable  to  him.  He  travelled  In  state  to  Paris,  where  his 
brothers  were.  But  when  he  left  it,  meaning  to  take  the 
nearest  road  to  Switzerland  to  join  the  Weimar  army  in 
Alsace,  he  assumed  the  closest  incognito ;  Richelieu,  how- 
ever, the  despotic  minister  of  Louis  XIIL,  had  him  ar- 
rested at  Moulins,  and  with  small  ceremony  handed  him 
to  the  state  prison  of  Vincennes.  The  three  young  princes 
at  Paris  were  likewise  put  under  restraint,  although  not 
actually  Incarcerated. 

Meantime  their  mother  had  that  autumn  shortened  her 
hunting  season  at  Rhenen,  and,  accompanied  by  her  daugh- 
ters, visited  Amsterdam.  The  loving  Mynheers  treated  her 
as  if  she  were  actually  their  queen  ;  they  presented  her  with 
some  fine  porcelain  jars,2and  gave  her  young  princess  Hol- 
1  Benger.  Le  Vassor.  *  History  of  Amsterdam. 

VOL.  VIII.  N 


194 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


landine,  their  name-child  (although  called  by  every  one  but 
her  sponsors  Louisa),  a  magnificent  Indian  cabinet.  On 
her  return  to  the  Hague  in  the  first  week  of  October  1639, 
Elizabeth  received  the  overwhelming  intelligence,  of  course 
exaggerated,  that  the  Elector  Palatine  was  close  prisoner 
at  Vincennes,  and  all  her  young  princes,  his  brothers,  were 
captives  in  various  donjons.  She  did  not  believe  the  last ; 
but  the  capture  of  the  eldest  made  her  fear  they  were  in 
danger.  Having  consulted  with  her  fast  friend  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  on  the  reasons  of  her  son's  treatment  in  France, 
because,  as  she  said,  "her  husband  had  travelled  there  incog- 
nito even  though  France  was  at  peace  with  Austria,''  he  re- 
plied, "  that  the  French  minister,  Richelieu,  considered  her 
son  to  be  too  much  attached  to  England,  and  on  that 
account  he  did  not  wish  him  to  have  the  late  Duke  Bernard's 
array."  The  French  affirmed  that  the  Elector  Palatine  had 
broken  their  national  laws  by  coming  en  prince ^  and  going 
incognito.  Elizabeth's  life  was  spent  in  perpetual  lamenta- 
tions and  solicitations  for  his  liberation,  and  that  of  the  rest 
of  her  boys.  At  last  Maurice  was  permitted  to  return  to  her. 
The  two  younger  were  detained  as  hostages  for  the  tractable 
behaviour  of  their  elder  brother,  who  was  at  last  released  on 
his  parole,  that  he  would  not  attempt  to  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  army  of  the  late  Bernard  of  Weimar,  which 
finally  was  transferred  to  the  command  of  the  French  gene- 
ral, the  Duke  de  Longueville. 

The  young  Elector  Palatine  was,  just  before  the  Easter  of 
1640,  brought  away  from  Vincennes  by  one  of  the  French 
ministers  to  Paris  in  his  coach ,^  and  permitted  to  reside  at 
the  English  Ambassador's,  then  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  at  an 
enormous  expense  to  his  uncle  Charles  L  During  this  agree- 
able parole  he  enjoyed  all  the  sights  and  delights  of  Paris. 
He  had  an  interview  with  Cardinal  Richelieu,  and  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that  this  unscrupulous  statesman  in- 
sinuated to  him  that  his  uncle,  Charles  I.,  had  been  the 
cause  of  his  imprisonment;  for,  from  that  time  may  be 
traced  his  ungrateful  enmity  against  his  royal  uncle.  The 

Bromley  Letters^  pp.  117, 118,  which  is  misdated  1641;  should  be  March 
3, 1640, 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


195 


gaieties  of  France,  however,  had  their  effect  on  him  at  the 
present  period,  and  he  wrote  to  his  mother  these  agreeable 
particulars : — 

"  Yesterday  I  was  at  St  Germain  to  see  the  King  and  Mademoiselle, 
who  did  it  for  the  Queen,  wash  the  feet  of  the  poor."  [This  was  the  eldest 
daughter  of  Gaston  Duke  of  Orleans  (then  a  very  young  and  beautiful 
girl),    the  heiress  of  Montpensier,"  whose  autobiography  is  well  known.] 

I  should  have  been  incognito,  but  the  King  of  France  found  me  out,  and 
made  me  stand  at  the  table  which  he  served,  and  spoke  with  me  all  the 
time  of  the  ceremony,  which  he  performed  with  a  great  deal  of  devotion. 
Mademoiselle  performed  very  prettily,  but  not  without  the  disaster  of 
letting  two  dishes  of  pease  fall  upon  her  gown.  Having  dined  privately,  I 
heard  from  the  galleries  of  the  chapel  the  King's  music,  which  is  very 
good,  sing  the  vespers ;  the  King  [Louis  XIII.]  and  the  Queen  [Anne  of 
Austria]  being  below." 

The  chapel  at  St  Germains-en-Laye  is  small,  the  gallery 
very  broad.  It  is  silent  and  desolate  now  ;  but  the  histoi*ical 
memory  can  people  it  with  the  celebrated  characters  thus 
summoned  up  by  the  pen  of  the  Elector  to  his  mother. 
There  were  Richelieu,  the  beautiful  Queen  Anne  of  Austria, 
Louis  XIII.,  and  the  grande  Mademoiselle.  The  time 
was  Maunday  Thursday  of  the  Passion- Week  of  1640; 
the  office  of  washing  the  feet  of  the  poor — somewhat 
similar  to  the  Queen's  Maunday  at  Whitehall  (but  the  very 
literal  imitation  of  Scripture  is  not  performed  as  to  the  feet- 
washing) — has  not  been  performed  here  since  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's days.  The  Calvinist  Elector  Palatine  submitted, 
with  a  very  good  grace,  to  witness  the  gorgeous  ceremo- 
nies of  the  Roman  Church  in  the  St  Germain  chapel.  He 
had  audience  of  the  Queen  of  France,  from  whom,  as  the 
sister  of  his  great  enemy  of  Spain,  he  expected  mortifica- 
tion. Anne  of  Austria  was  too  good-natured  to  mortify  any 
one  ;  if  she  could  never  acknowledge  the  assumed  rank  of 
her  prisoner's  mother  in  public,  she  made  such  amends  as 
she  could  by  message.  "  The  Queen  told  the  Master  of  the 
Ceremonies,  the  day  after  I  had  my  audience,"  continues 
the  Elector  to  his  mother,  "  that  she  thought  I  did  not  go 
well  pleased  from  her,  but  she  knew  what  tlie  reason  was; 
therefore,"  added  she,  "  I  must  behave  better,  for  I  forgot 
to  give  the  title  to  his  mother.''  That  miserable  title  of 
Queen  of  Bohemia,  which  had  cost  at  least  a  hundred  thou- 


196 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


sand  lives !  and  in  her  wretched  bereavement  of  husband, 
sons,  home,  affluence,  and  dominions,  this  half-acknowledg- 
ment of  it  by  the  Queen  of  France  was  sent  to  soothe  so 
many  ills  by  her  son,  who  knew  her  weakness  well.  He 
adds — and,  indeed,  the  information  was  needed,  after  assist- 
ing so  complaisantly  at  the  Eoman  CathoHc  ceremonies  of 
Holy  Thursday,  ''Sunday  I  do  receive  at  Charenton ^ 
the  principal  conventicle  of  the  Calvinists  then  tolerated 
in  France. 

Elizabeth  welcomed  home  her  young  sons,  Edward  and 
Philip,  who  left  Paris  at  the  end  of  the  same  April.^  She 
had  requested  of  her  eldest  son  to  send  her  some  watches  by 
them  from  the  French  capital :  he  could  not  find  any  ready 
made,  but  promised  to  send  her  those  he  had  ordered  the 
first  opportunity.  Louis  XIII.  had  allowed  him  good  en- 
tertainment at  Paris ;  and  the  fact  seems  to  be,  that  the 
prisoner  was  in  no  hurry  to  leave  his  comfortable  quarters  ; 
although  his  mother,  very  anxious  to  see  him,  assured  him 
in  her  letters  that  he  could  now,  without  any  breach  of 
parole,  run  away.''  Yet  her  eldest  hope  was  in  no  haste  ; 
and  it  was  not  until  the  King  of  France  cut  short  his  good 
cheer  that  he  turned  his  face  homewards.  Meantime,  he 
had  been  on  unfriendly  terms  with  his  father's  kindred  of 
the  Protestant  house  of  Kohan. 

"  Your  Majesty,"  he  writes,^  hath  heard  of  Madame  de  Rohan's 
being  angry  with  me,  that  I  did  not  see  her  soon  enough,  though  I  pro- 
ceeded not  to  see  any  but  the  princesses  of  the  right  blood,  and  the  Princess 
Mary,  in  their  rank,  and  then  saw  those  that  were  nearest  to  me,  as  Madame 
de  la  Tremouille.  But  now  we  are  friends,  and  Wednesday  last  her  daughter 
and  I  christened  my  Lord  of  Leicester's  child  together.  To-morrow  I  go 
to  St  Germain  to  see  the  King,  Queen,  and  Duchess  of  Lorraine,  and  to  dine 
with  M.  Le  Grand,  who  hath  on  several  occasions  been  very  civil  to  me, 
especially  in  those  things  wherein  the  fool  Brulon  would  have  troubled  me, 
whereof  De  Lean  will  acquaint  your  Majesty,  whom  I  humbly  beseech  to 
maintain  in  your  good  opinion." 

The  fool  Brulon was  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  at  the 
chateau  of  St  Germains,  and  the  dispute  on  those  intoler- 
able points  of  etiquette,  which  always  seem  so  particularly 
important  to  elective  sovereigns. 

^  Bromley  Letters,  Paris,  April  7,  1640.  « Ibid.,  April  28. 

Ibid.,  August  4,  1640. 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


197 


The  spring  was  cold  and  backward,  but  Elizabeth  took 
her  newly-restored  young  princes  to  Ehenen,  where  they 
all  amused  themselves  with  the  sport  she  called  hunt- 
ing, but  which  really  seems  to  be  coursing  hares  with 
greyhounds.  She  had  complained,  in  her  letter  which 
tells  of  their  sport,  of  the  expense  of  keeping  her  eldest 
son's  horses  at  the  Hague.  He  writes  to  her — I  have 
beseeched  your  Majesty  to  dispose  of  the  horses  of  mine 
at  the  Hague,  or  of  anything  that  is  mine,  as  you  please, 
for  I  wish  for  nothing  which  mo\es  passion/'^ 

The  negotiations  for  the  marriage  of  the  young  son  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange  and  the  eldest  daughter  of  her  brother, 
Charles  I.,  engrossed  all  the  attention  of  Elizabeth  after 
she  had  received  her  eldest  son  safely  home  In  the  autumn 
of  1640.  EUzabeth  thought  the  Princess-royal  of  Great 
Britain  ought  to  match  higher  among  the  kings  of  the 
earth  than  the  elective  Stadtholder  of  Holland.  Xone, 
however,  of  these  great  kings  had  behaved  to  her  with  the 
beneficence  of  her  good  friend,  Henry  of  Orange,  and  her 
loving  Amelia,  his  spouse.  Elizabeth  wished  that  her 
second  niece  and  name-child,  the  sweet  young  Princess 
EHzabeth,  might  be  the  bride  of  Orange.  Charles  I., 
however,  desired  to  give  his  subjects,  who  made  Pro- 
testantism in  danger''  a  plea  for  their  turbulence,  the  best 
proof  of  his  firmness  against  Roman  Catholic  tenets,  by 
marrying  his  eldest  daughter  to  young  AYIUIam  of  Orange. 
The  young  Prince,  although  but  nine  years  old,  w^ent  to 
England  to  wed  his  little  spouse  in  person.  Thither  too 
went,  but  uninvited  by  his  uncle,  the  Elector  Palatine. 
His  mother  encouraged  him  in  this  Intrusion  —  not  then 
aware  that  the  expense,  trouble,  and  constant  uneasiness 
this  Prince  had  been  to  Charles  I.,  rendered  his  appearance 
for  the  third  time  at  the  English  Court  about  as  welcome 
as  that  of  the  man  of  the  sea  on  Sinbad's  shoulders.  He 
had  the  bad  taste  and  bad  feeling  to  wa^angle  with  the  little 
bridegroom  for  precedence — a  most  grievous  Injury  to  his 
mother's  best  friend  and  personal  protector,  and  his  own 
father's  uncle,  Henry  Prince  of  Orange.  Charles  I.,  of  course, 
^  Bromley  Letters,  Paris,  August  4,  1640. 


198 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


gave  the  precedence  to  the  husband  of  the  Princess-Royal, 
his  own  son-in-law,  and  from  that  moment  had  the  bitter- 
est of  opponents  in  his  nephew,  Charles  Louis,  the  Elector 
Palatine.  He  was  seldom  absent  from  England,  until  he 
became  alarmed  for  his  safety  after  the  murder  of  his  uncle, 
Charles  I. 

Elizabeth  did  not  then  receive  her  little  niece,  whose 
juvenile  bridal  had  been  just  celebrated  at  Whitehall.  She 
was  left  in  England  to  finish  her  education,  but  the  young 
bridegroom  returned  to  the  Hague.^  Every  one  seemed  to 
have  forgotten  Rupert  as  much  as  if  he  was  destined  to  a 
life-long  imprisonment  at  Lintz.  His  mother  expressed  her- 
self as  one  without  hope,  for  though  the  Elector  had  been  suf- 
fered to  return  from  France  in  the  third  summer  of  Rupert's 
captivity,  yet  Rupert  was  not  released.  She  wrote  much 
and  long  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  who  had  opened  a  new  and 
very  dull  treaty,  at  Vienna.  Its  dulness  seems  to  have 
extended  to  her  own  usually  lively  letters  to  Sir  Thomas 
Roe,  many  of  which  are  in  the  State  Papers.  In  them 
she  mentions  consulting  her  mother-in-law,  the  Electress 
Juliana,  on  the  exile  of  her  eldest  son  from  his  domi- 
nions, and  the  imprisonment  of  her  second  in  the  far  Hun- 
garian fortress.  "  If  Rupert/'  she  says,  be  now  freely 
set  at  liberty,  I  shall  have  the  better  opinion  of  their  good 
intentions  ;  but  else,  I  still  confess  I  am  like  St  Thomas-a- 
Didymus,  and  believe  nothing." 

In  the  evening  of  one  of  the  dark  days  just  before  Christ- 
mas, Elizabeth  and  her  daughters  being  returned  from 
Rhenen,  and  settled  for  the  winter  at  the  Hague,  she  had 
been  giving  reception  to  her  old  friend,  the  English  resi- 
dent, Sir  William  Boswell,  who  was  withdrawing  home- 
wards at  eight  o'clock.  As  he  left  the  apartments  of  the 
Queen  of  Bohemia  at  the  Castle  of  the  Hague,  a  post-waggon 
entered  the  court,  out  of  which  sprung  the  long-lost  Rupert, 
and  encountered  the  English  envoy  face  to  face.  No 
creature  at  court  expected  his  coming,"  writes  Boswell  in 
the  most  good-natured  delight  at  being  the  first  to  share 

^  State  Paper  MS.  Aug.  6/16,  1641— Rhenen. 

2  Ibid.   Boswell  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  Dec.  13,  1641. 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


199 


the  surprise  young  Rupert  had  prepared  for  his  mother. 
Eupert  would  not  be  announced,  but  rushed  into  the  arms 
of  his  parent,  interrupting,  by  his  unexpected  entrance,  the 
ceremonial  with  which  she  was  sitting  down  to  supper/' 
Her  transports  of  joy  at  the  unhoped-for  return  of  her 
long  -  lost  one,  greatly  affected  Sir  William  Boswell, 
who  gives  the  credit  of  the  happy  event  wholly  to  his 
master,  Charles  I.,  and  Sir  Thomas  Roe ;  but  it  was 
rather  to  be  attributed  to  the  influence  of  Queen  Henrietta 
with  her  sister-in-law  Anne  of  Austria.  Rupert  informed 
his  mother  that  he  had  been  some  time  on  his  parole  at 
Vienna,  had  been  treated  with  some  kindness  and  distinction 
by  Ferdinand  IIL,  who  had  invited  him  to  his  hunting 
parties,  and  finally  released  him  on  his  knightly  word  never 
to  bear  arms  against  the  Empire  again.  He  was  thin  and 
worn  in  appearance,  having  travelled  scarcely  stopping 
for  rest  or  refreshment,  that  he  might  himself  be  the 
first  to  bear  the  news  of  his  restored  liberty  to  his  mother. 
Ten  days  had  not  elapsed  before  Elizabeth  began  to  be 
anxious  to  know  what  she  should  do  with  the  restless  young 
spirit,  whose  return  she  had  so  ardently  evoked.  It  was 
finally  agreed  that  he  should  offer  his  services  to  his  uncle, 
Charles  I.,  to  fight  against  his  rebels  now  in  open  war. 
Prince  Maurice,  who  was  then  home  from  the  campaign  he 
had  been  serving  under  the  Swedish  Regent  Bannier,  did 
not  wish  to  bear  arms  against  Ferdinand  III.  after  liberat- 
ing thus  generously  his  favourite  brother.  Charles  I.  gladly 
accepted  the  services  of  his  two  younger  nephews.  Eliza- 
beth and  her  daughters  accompanied  them  to  the  Brill,  in 
the  spring  of  1641-42,  from  whence  they  saw  the  young 
adventurous  princes  embark  for  England,  which  soon 
rung  with  the  fame  of  the  dashing  cavalier,  Rupert  of  the 
Rhine.  To  do  him  justice,  although,  like  his  ancestor, 
Edward  L,  he  sometimes  lost  a  victory  by  pursuing  the 
fugitives  too  far,  he  never  engaged  in  any  base  intrigues 
against  his  uncle,  or  consorted  with  his  enemies. 

Elizabeth  herself  was  not  forgotten  during  their  career,  ^ 
being  often  alluded  to  in  those  cavalier  ballads  which 
^  State-Paper  MS.,  Bos  well  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  Dec.  13,  1641. 


200 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


political  history  superciliously  disdains  to  notice,  notwith- 
standing their  immense  power  in  the  contest.  Bad  or  good, 
prosaic  or  poetical,  the  historical  ballads  of  these  Islands  had, 
from  the  times  of  the  Druids  to  those  of  the  Puritans,  to 
perform  the  offices  pertaining  now  to  the  periodical  press. 
Few  newspapers  could,  in  the  present  day,  give  more  indi- 
vidualising details  of  any  encounter.  The  following  triplets 
are  commemorative  of  one  in  the  early  days  of  the  civil  war  : 
Lord  Byron,  the  Princes  Palatine,  and  Sir  Lewis  Dives, 
beat  "in  a  large  field  by  Worcester  Gate''  a  squadron  of  East- 
cheap  prentices  and  citizens  led  by  Col.  Sandys.  Rupert 
and  Maurice,  instead  of  commanding  separate  detachments, 
seem  to  have  sustained  each  other  in  combat  like  Castor 
and  Pollux,  or  the  Homeric  heroes.  The  extracts  are  con- 
fined to  the  verses  in  which  the  sons  of  Elizabeth  are  active: 

Brave  Lord  Byron  true  to  tlie  crown, 
With  troops  too  few  'tis  very  well  known. 
Came  here  to  guard  our  Worcester  town. 

The  crop-ears  marched  without  much  fear, 
Not  knowing  Rupert  rode  so  near. 
Alas  !  poor  souls  it  cost  them  dear  ! 

^  Where,  where  are  they  ? '  Prince  Rupert  cries, 

Gazing  about  with  fiery  eyes, 

When  an  ambush  behind  a  hedge  he  spies. 

****** 

Prince  Maurice  then,  to  second  his  brother. 

Fired  his  petronel,  down  fell  another, 

'Twere  pity  but  news  were  sent  to  his  mother.^ 

But  oh.  Prince  IMaurice,  where  was  he  ] 
Where  few  of  us  would  wish  to  be  ! 
Surrounded  by  butchers  one,  two,  three. 

Those  men  of  Eastcheap  little  said. 

But  all  their  blows  at  his  head  they  made, 

As  if  they  had  been  at  work  on  their  trade. 

The  cavaliers  close  up  then  spurred, 

The  blows  they  gave  were  all  with  the  sword, 

And  many  a  roundhead  stretched  on  the  sward. 


^  Elizabeth  Queen  of  Bohemia. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


201 


They  fly,  they  fly,  Prince  Rupert  cried, 

No  sooner  said  than  away  they  hied. 

For  his  fiery  charge  they  could  not  bide.'*  ^ 

The  English  Parliamentarians  did  not  forget  that  Eh'za- 
beth's  Paladins  were  doing  battle  in  a  cause  diametrically 
opposed  to  the  principles  they  had  imbibed  at  Leyden  Uni- 
versity, their  Alma  Mater.  Not  all  the  cringing  of  the 
elder  brother,  Charles  Louis,  would  make  amends  for  the 
discomfitures  of  the  Eastcheap  men-at-arms.  Elizabeth's 
remittances  suffered  for  the  heroism  of  her  boys.  Every 
guerilla  victory  they  won  tightened  the  strings  of  the  purse 
that  held  her  supplies,  which  was  in  the  keeping  of  her 
brother^s  enemies.  So  far  it  is  needful  to  explain  ;  but 
dwelling  further  on  the  exploits  of  Elizabeth's  Paladins 
must  not  divert  the  pen  from  her  own  life. 

The  winter  of  1641  was  passed  in  deep  sorrow.  The 
youngest  child  of  the  thirteen,  Gustaf,"  as  he  was  called 
in  the  family  (born  just  when  his  father  departed  for  his 
unfortunate  campaign  with  Gustavus  Adolphus),  sickened 
and  died  in  his  ninth  year.  This  death,  not  of  moment 
enough  to  fill  a  small  record  in  history,  was  all  in  all  to  the 
bereaved  mother. 

^  Loyal  Songs.  The  last  edition,  printed  in  170:i. 


ELIZABETH  STUART 


CHAPTEE  VII. 

SUMMARY 

Dutch  CovGDanters  find  fault  with  EHzabeth  and  her  daughters'  diversions 
■ — She  goes  to  meet  Queen  Henrietta  Maria — Family  party  in  her  coach 
— Her  entertainments  to  the  Queen — Their  friendship — Louisa  and  Ed- 
ward take  a  bias  to  the  Queen's  religion — Death  of  the  Electress  Juliana 
— Untoward  event  from  Elizabeth's  patronage  of  a  French  refugee — She 
quarrels  with  her  daughter  Elizabeth — Scandals  ensue — The  Frenchman 
mentions  Elizabeth's  name  disparagingly — Her  son  Philip  kills  him,  and 
flies  from  the  Hague — Elizabeth  infuriated  against  her  son — Her  eldest 
daughter  leaves  her — Death  of  Elizabeth's  friend,  Henry  Prince  of  Orange 
— Letter  of  her  son,  the  Elector — He  brings  the  news  of  the  murder  of 
Charles  I. — Extreme  grief  of  Elizabeth  and  her  children — Elizabeth  first 
institutes  the  solemn  fast  and  service  for  her  brother's  death — Her  letter 
to  Montrose — Betrothal  of  her  daughter,  Henrietta,  to  the  Prince  of  Tran- 
sylvania— Marriage  of  her  eldest  son  to  Charlotte  of  Hesse — Elizabeth's 
supplies  nearly  cut  olF — Her  eldest  son  denies  her  dower  and  his  father's 
legacies — Her  eldest  daughter  and  Sophia  receive  appointments  at  his 
court — Elizabeth  alone  wdth  Louisa — Princess  Henrietta  married  to  the 
Transylvanian  Prince — Her  early  death — Long  contests  with  the  Elector, 
for  money—  His  letters  to  his  mother — Her  extreme  distress — Want  of 
food — He  insists  on  her  coming  to  Heidelberg — She  fears  his  quarrels  with 
his  wife — His  sneering  letters  to  his  mother — Mysterious  loss  of  her  son^ 
Prince  Maurice. 

A  FIERCE  watch  was  kept  by  the  Puritan  party  in  Hol- 
land on  the  proceedings  of  their  guest,  Elizabeth  Queen 
of  Bohemia  j — not  so  much  on  her  politics  as  on  her  robes 
and  mantles,  farthingales  and  neckerchiefs.  And  when  her 
youngdaughters  came  from  theEhenen  to  disport  themselves 
fur  the  winter  at  the  Hague,  a  very  strict  inquisition  was 
instituted  respecting  their  mode  of  dressing,  and  their  amuse- 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


203 


ments,  by  the  Calvinist  preachers.  To  enliven  the  Shrove- 
tide of  1839,  Elizabeth  and  her  young  princesses  got  up 
a  little  French  drama  on  the  doleful  story  of  Medea  ;  no  man 
took  a  part  in  this  play,  or  witnessed  its  performance.  It 
was,  in  fact,  a  mere  scholastic  exercise,  confined  to  the  cog- 
nisance of  governesses  and  maids  of  honour.  Nevertheless 
the  members  of  the  Covenant  at  the  Hague  brought  a 
complaint  concerning  it  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  re- 
commended them  to  mind  their  own  preaching,  and  let  their 
neighbours  alone.  But  they  insisted  on  her  own  chaplain 
fulminating  against  her  mode  of  dress  from  his  pulpit,  and 
when  refused,  they  reviled  him  as  belonging  to  Arrainius 
and  Laud.^  The  arrival  of  Queen  Henrietta  Maria  in  Hol- 
land of  course  aggravated  all  these  vexatious  interferences. 

Elizabeth  met  her  royal  sister-in-law  after  her  tempes- 
tuous voyage,  about  a  mile  from  the  Hague,^  this  being  the 
first  time  they  had  ever  looked  upon  each  other,  when  they 
commenced  a  friendship  which  had  little  interruption  during 
their  lives.  The  coach  in  which  Elizabeth  came  to  receive 
her  brother's  consort  was  curtained  and  lined  with  crim- 
son velvet — not  much  according  to  our  ideas  of  a  coach, 
for  it  was  really  a  waggon  without  springs.  Glass  win- 
dows had  not  yet  been  thought  of ;  but  it  opened  between 
the  w^ieels  with  clumsy  side-doors,  each  having  a  leathern 
convenience  for  holding  steps,  called  a  boot,"  on  which 
individuals  of  the  company  that  the  King  or  Queen  delighted 
to  honour  were  perched.  A  numerous  posse  of  insides 
were  packed  into  this  sociable  conveyance.  Sir  Walter 
Scott  most  truly  describes  the  coach  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, when  discussing  the  family  of  Tillietudlem.  On  this 
occasion  Henrietta  Maria,  after  all  embracings  and  welcom- 
ings  of  herself  and  daughter  were  over,  was  placed  by  her 
sister-in-law  on  her  right  hand  ;  Elizabeth  sat  by  her  :  the 
Lilliputian  bride,  Mary  of  England,  and  her  little  dumpy 
bridegroom,  who  Is  in  his  portraits  the  oddest  punchinello 
that  ever  inducted  himself  into  a  vast  superabundance  of 
nether  garments,  sat  opposite  :  Eupert,  who  was  already 

^  State  Papers — Elizabeth's  Letters  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  1639. 
*  Holland  News,  and  Gazettes  of  France. 


204 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


well  known  to  his  royal  aunt,  occupied  one  boot  with  his 
little  sister  Henrietta,  goddaughter  to  that  Queen  ;  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  and  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  the  other  ; — a  happy  family- 
party  of  eight,  all  on  excellent  terms  at  that  time  with 
each  other.  Yet  several  of  them  professed  different  modes 
of  belief  or  unbelief.  There  were  members  of  the  Church 
of  England,  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  two  grades  of 
Dutch  dissent,  besides  Rupert,  whose  utter  disgust  of  the 
controversies  then  prevalent  had  extinguished  in  his  mind 
all  sense  of  devotion.  It  was  lucky  that  no  theological 
topic  was  started  among  persons  of  such  diverse  creeds 
in  such  close  contiguity.! 

It  was  Elizabeth's  vivid  and  romantic  imagination  that 
embodied  the  traditions  and  customs  of  the  Low  Countries 
into  a  beautiful  national  tableau.  Everybody  remembers  the 
story  of  the  swans  which  brought  the  fairy  Mergalina, 
drawn  in  a  car  down  the  Rhine,  to  be  the  mother  of  the 
line  of  Cleves.  Among  the  pageants  which  greeted  Queen 
Henrietta  Maria  and  her  daughter,  in  Holland,  was  one 
illustrative  of  this  Rhenish  fairy-tale.  A  water-car,  drawn  by 
swans,  was  exhibited  on  the  lake  at  the  Hague,  into  which, 
with  her  usual  courage,  ventured  Queen  Henrietta,  and  was 
towed  some  distance  by  the  beautiful  creatures  quite  safely — 
more  fortunate  than  the  spectators  of  a  water  exhibition  of 
the  kind  prepared  at  Yarmouth  a  few  years  since,  on  the 
river  Yare,  where  fifty  or  sixty  persons  were  drowned  by 
the  fall  of  a  bridge  on  which  they  had  crowded  to  view  the 
spectacles 

It  is  said  that  the  Princess  Louisa  and  her  brother  Edward 
received  their  first  bias  to  the  Roman  CathoHc  religion  in  the 
private  chapel  of  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  their  aunt. 
If  so,  their  predilections  were  confirmed  by  the  vulgar  in- 
tolerance and  inquisitorial  spirit  that  actuated  the  leading 
party  at  the  Hague.    Throughout  the  whole  of  the  Queen 

^  Holland  News,  and  Gazettes  of  France. 

2  Now  and  then,  in  the  eastern  counties  of  England,  exhibitions  are  made 
of  water-fowl,  trained  to  draw  tubs  and  boats  on  the  broads  and  rivers  op- 
posite to  the  coast  of  Holland,  which  is  doubtless  a  traditional  custom  from 
that  kindred  country. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


205 


of  Bohemia's  correspondence,  Henrietta  Maria  is  mentioned 
with  sisterly  kindness  and  good-will,  excepting  when,  many 
years  subsequently,  she  was  endeavouring  to  force  the  young 
Duke  of  Gloucester,  at  Paris,  into  apostasy  from  the  Church 
of  England. 

In  1643  Henrietta  Maria  returned  to  England  with  suc- 
cours for  her  struggling  lord.  The  influence  of  Elizabeth  had 
greatly  aided  her  in  obtaining  them.  To  the  care  of  her 
sister-in-law,  Henrietta  Maria  most  earnestly  commended 
her  child  Mary,  the  spouse  of  the  young  heir  of  Orange, 
then  scarcely  twelve  years  old.  EHzabeth  cherished  her 
with  constant  kindness  through  life,  and  ever  spoke  of  her 
and  wrote  of  her  as  her  ''best  niece." 

The  Electress  Juliana  was  now  on  her  deathbed.  If  the 
most  laudatory  of  chaplains  can  be  believed,  she,  with  al- 
most her  last  words,  spoke  of  the  great  and  good  qualities 
of  her  daughter-in-law,  and  bade  her  daughter  Catherine 
write,  sending  her  blessing  to  her  and  to  her  grandchildren. 
Spanheim,  her  chaplain,  who  brought  these  tidings  to  the 
Hague,!  was  advised  by  Elizabeth  to  write  the  life  of  her 
deceased  mother-in-law.  He  did  so  in  the  usual  style  in 
which  biographies  are  written  by  contemporaries,  with  as 
much  panegyric,  and  as  few  facts,  as  words  can  serve  to 
express  :  he  dwells  on  the  exalted  and  tender  friendship 
between  the  mother-in-law  and  daughter-in-law  with  in- 
flated sentences  of  rhetoric,  the  exact  contrary  being  the 
actual  truth.  Although  Elizabeth,  with  her  romantic  gene- 
rosity of  feeling,  extolled  her  husband's  mother  when  she 
was  in  her  grave,  yet  there  survived  a  root  of  bitterness, 
from  which  sprang  the  future  dissensions  in  her  family. 
The  fanatic  tendencies  of  her  eldest  daughter  Elizabeth  were 
owing  to  the  difference  of  creed  in  which  she  had  been 
imbued  when  brought  up  in  tender  childhood  by  the  Elec- 
tress JuHana.  Her  eldest  son,  who  now  began  to  manifest 
for  his  mother  the  dislike  and  cruelty  which  embittered  her 
future  llfe^  was  likewise  his  grandmother's  pupil. 

Never  did  any  cavalier  partisan  in  the  civil  wars  of  Eng- 
land enter  into  the  cause  of  King  and  Church  with  warmer 

^  Spanheim's  Juliana. 


206 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


feelings  than  the  sister  of  Charles  I.  It  was  In  vain  that  her 
son  Charles  Louis,  whose  mammon-seeking  spirit  became 
every  hour  more  odious,  represented  to  her  that  her  inter- 
ests, and  those  of  her  numerous  and  needy  children,  were 
entirely  on  the  other  side.  Elizabeth  was  uncompromising, 
and  actually  endured  all  privations  rather  than  truckle  to 
her  brother's  enemies.  She  spirited  up  Rupert  and  Maurice 
to  deeds  of  daring  in  his  behalf,  during  which  time  the  Elector 
Charles  Louis,  who  had  left  his  uncle  and  benefactor  at  York 
without  explanation,  was  cringing  to  the  Parliament  for  lucre 
of  gain,  assuring  the  members  he  always  wished  success  to 
the  arms  of  the  Parliament,  holding  prayer-meetings  at 
his  dwelling,  and  out-canting  the  most  pharisaical  among 
the  Roundheads.  He  made  many  petitions  and  sordid 
prostrations  in  his  mother's  name  ;  but  it  is  useless  to 
dwell  more  on  this  matter,  than  to  point  out  the  source 
from  which  they  sprang.  He  gained  a  few  hundreds  for 
himself  by  this  baseness,  but  no  relief  for  her  distresses  at 
the  Hague.  In  a  spirit  of  malice  she  was  granted  a  subsidy 
from  the  sequestered  estates  of  her  brother's  loyal  subjects — 
an  act  which  cutElizabeth  to  the  heart,  as  it  was  meant  to  do, 
and  made  her  declare  her  real  feelings  and  principles,  despite 
of  the  worldly  cunning  of  her  eldest  son.  A  completely  false 
position  had  she  been  placed  in  from  the  very  first  of  her 
marriage  with  the  leader  of  the  Calvinist  party  in  Europe. 
She  had  never  swerved,  excepting  once,  at  that  long  table  in 
Prague  cathedral,  and  never  afterwards  did  swerve,  from 
the  Church  of  England  established  at  the  promulgation  of 
the  last  translation  of  the  Scriptures.  Of  course  its  enemies 
were  her  enemies ;  and  the  party  which  had  received  her 
husband  and  supported  her  family  at  the  Hague  were  prac- 
tically the  most  inimical  of  all.  It  was  in  close  communica- 
tion with  the  regicidal  party  in  England ;  and  many  of  her 
speeches,  besides  the  deeds  of  her  two  cavalier  sons,  were 
cast  in  the  teeth  of  the  Dutch  Prince,  as  they  called  Charles 
Louis,  whenever  he  pleaded  the  destitute  case  of  his  mother 
in  Holland.  At  last  the  unfortunate  Elizabeth  was  left  with 
nothing  to  subsist  on  excepting  the  small  pension  granted 
her  by  the  States  of  Holland,  and  the  interest  of  the  sums 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


207 


her  husband  had  secured  to  his  children  in  the  bank  of 
Amsterdam.  Her  portion  of  this  last  fund  was,  however, 
devoured  by  the  useless  efforts  which  had  been  made, 
when  her  eldest  son  came  of  age,  towards  the  recovery  of 
his  property  in  the  Palatinate,  from  which  he  was,  at  the 
time  of  his  disgraceful  sojourn  in  England,  totally  expa- 
triated. 

Hitherto  the  calamities  that  had  befallen  Elizabeth,  ori- 
ginating as  they  did  merely  from  her  party  happening  to 
belong  to  the  weaker  side,  were  really  far  from  intolerable. 
She  had  escaped  the  worst  miseries  that  befell  her  ances- 
tress, Mary  Queen  of  Scots  —  the  calumnies  with  which 
politicians  usually  assail  women,  if  they  are  the  wives, 
daughters,  or  sisters  of  their  opponents.  All  parties  had 
joined  in  loving,  praising,  and  panegyrising  Elizabeth  Stuart. 
A  dark  cloud,  however,  descended  over  her  as  her  children 
advanced  to  adult  age.  Whatsoever  were  their  attainments 
in  learning  and  religion,  they  were  not  of  that  truly  practical 
kind  which,  according  to  the  sweet  rule  of  Scripture  simpli- 
city, "  maketh  families  to  be  of  one  mind  in  a  house.''  Seve- 
ral were  inclined  to  become  Roman  Catholics,  actuated,  as 
many  persons  are  in  these  times,  from  sheer  contradiction 
to  the  spirit  of  sectarian  controversy.  The  word  went 
forth  that  the  princely  Palatine  family  was  the  most  divided 
in  the  world.  Just  when  they  were  generally  disquieted 
with  the  change  of  Prince  Edward  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion,  a  Protestant  refugee,  remarkably  handsome  and 
elegant  in  manners,  arrived  at  the  Hague.  He  was  a 
nobleman,  and  called  himself  Marquis  d'Epinay.  He  gave 
out  that  he  had  been  deprived  of  his  intended  wife  by  the 
profligacy  of  one  of  the  French  princes  of  the  blood. 
Directly  he  appeared,  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  patronised 
him  very  remarkably.  All  her  children,  on  the  contrary, 
regarded  him  with  aversion.  Soon  he  was  extremely  inti- 
mate at  her  court ;  at  last  he  was  consulted  on  her  pri- 
vate affairs.  Her  daughter  Elizabeth,  who  was  both  devotee 
and  savante^  more  especially  defied  and  distrusted  this  M. 
d'Epinay,  who  does  indeed  seem  to  have  been  what  his 
countrymen  so  emphatically  call  mauvais  sujet.  Great 


208 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


domestic  contentions  ensued,  and  scandal,  of  course,  became 
rife,  some  calumniating  the  mother,  others  the  daughter. 
It  is  asserted  that  the  Princess  Elizabeth  was  the  first  to 
throw  aspersions  on  her  mother's  character.  M.  d'EpInay, 
to  the  agony  of  Elizabeth's  young  high-spirited  sons,  evi- 
dently plumed  himself  on  this  family  contention,  and  now 
and  then  his  vain  babble  increased  it  to  the  highest  degree.^ 
One  evening,  June  20,  1646,  he  and  several  of  his  country- 
men met  Prince  Philip  alone ;  a  rude  collision  ensued,  then 
abuse  and  taunts,  Epinay  being  Prince  Philip's  assailant, 
calling  him  by  his  name,  with  which  he  coupled  that  of 
his  mother  very  irreverently.  The  young  Prince  fought 
so  furiously  in  retaliation  that  the  French  brawlers  took 
to  their  heels.  The  next  day,  as  Prince  Philip  was  driving 
through  the  Place  d'Armes^  he  caught  sight  of  Epinay, 
and,  springing  from  his  carriage,  flew  on  him.  Epinay 
received  him  on  his  sword,  giving  him  a  dangerous 
wound  under  the  arm  ;  but  the  Prince,  who  was  unarmed, 
saving  his  couteau  de  chasse,  plunged  it  In  the  heart  of  Epi- 
nay, then,  plucking  it  from  the  wound,  flung  it  as  far  from 
him  as  possible,  sprang  into  his  carriage,  drove  off",  and 
fled  to  the  Spanish  border.^  The  uproar  was  very  great 
at  the  Hague  concerning  this  homicide,  which  is  related 
by  all  English  authors  as  if  Philip  had  assassinated  an 
unarmed  enemy.  As  for  the  Queen  his  mother,  she,  ex- 
alted angel,  bowed  weeping  from  her  high  sphere,  be- 
wailing the  misfortune  of  having  such  a  son ; and  what 
it  was  all  about,  is  lost  in  a  mist  of  sympathy.  The 
German  authors,  on  the  other  side,  have  gone  too  far  in 
imputing  actual  guilt  to  Elizabeth.  Few  persons  who 
have  passed  through  all  the  flatteries  and  temptations  of 
beauty  in  early  life,  with  a  name  unscathed,  become  evil  on 
tlie  wrong  side  of  fifty.  But  she  liked  to  patronise,  did  not 
like  to  be  contradicted  by  her  children,  and  was  deceived  in 
the  character  of  a  brilliant  villain.  She  became  infuriated 
against  her  son,  and  vowed  she  would  never  see  him  again, 
nor  her  eldest  daughter  Elizabeth,  who,  she  was  told,  had 
set  her  brother  on  to  kill  Epinay.  But  the  real  ground 
Soltl's  Elizabeth  Stuart.   '  2  Theatre  du  Monde. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


209 


of  the  Qaeen\s  displeasure  against  her  daughter  was  the 
latter  telling  her  to  her  face    that  Philip  needed  no  apo- 

logy." 

All  the  children  of  Elizabeth  rejoiced  in  the  punishment 
their  brother  Philip  had  given  the  slanderous  Frenchman. 
The  eldest  son,  the  Elector  Charles  Louis/  wrote  a  letter  to 
his  mother  in  behalf  of  Philip,  dated  July  10,  1646,  which 
is  indeed  inexplicable,  unaccompanied  by  the  foregoing  cir- 
cumstances : — 

"  Permit  me,  Madame,  to  solicit  your  pardon  for  my  brother  Philip— a 
pardoD  I  would  sooner  have  asked  had  it  ever  entered  my  mind  that  he 
could  possibly  have  needed  any  intercession  to  obtain  it.  The  considera- 
tion of  his  youth,  of  the  affront  he  received,  of  the  shame  which  would  all 
his  life  have  attached  to  him  had  he  not  revenged  it,  should  suffice ;  but, 
more  than  all,  the  remembrance  of  his  birth,  of  his  close  relation  to  your- 
self and  to  him  to  whose  dead  ashes  ^  you  vowed  more  love  than  to  aught 
else  on  earth,  must  surely  be  more  than  adequate  to  efface  any  bad  impres- 
sion made  by  those  who,  by  a  false  statement  of  the  circumstances,  have 
misled  you,  and  who,  rejoicing  overall  divisions  in  our  family,  have  sought 
to  estrange  my  brother  from  your  heart.  The  very  act/'  he  adds,  "  of  my 
asking  forgiveness  for  Philip,  is  far  more  criminal  than  his  deed ;  but  he 
hopes  the  love  of  his  mother  for  her  children,  and  the  honour  of  her  house, 
will  outweigh  every  other  idea." 

This  disastrous  occurrence  ultimately  caused  great  changes 
in  Elizabeth's  family.  Her  daughter  Elizabeth  soon  after- 
wards made  a  retreat,  which  may  be  almost  interpreted  as 
a  flight,  to  the  house  of  her  father's  sister,  the  Electress  of 
Brandenburg,  with  whom  she  had  passed  her  childhood  when 
protected  by  the  Electress  Juliana.  Charles  Louis  did  not 
scruple  to  regret  that  his  favourite  sister  Sophia  was  left  in 
her  early  bloom  to  his  mother's  companionship.  Thus  was 
the  first  and  last  breath  of  scandal  cast  on  Elizabeth,  not  by 
avowed  enemies,  not  by  fickle  friends,  but  by  her  own  chil- 
dren and  family.  No  one  can  say  that  she  acted  wisely  in 
this  affair  ;  and  it  is  surprising  that  party  scandals  were  not 
exceedingly  active  on  the  occasion.  But  the  slain  French- 
man was  in  accordance  with  the  party  prevalent  in  Holland 

*  Guhrauer.  There  is  a  letter  from  the  Elector  resembling  it  in  the 
Bromley  Royal  Letters,  yet  not  so  ample  ;  but  both  might  have  been 
written  on  the  same  subject. 

*  This  passage  is  not  in  the  Bromley  Letters. 

VOL.  VIII.  0 


210 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


and  England ;  therefore  nothing  but  his  praises  are  to  be 
found  in  their  account  of  his  death. 

The  next  sorrow  that  befell  Elizabeth  was  the  loss  of 
her  firm  and  affectionate  friend  the  Prince  of  Orange.  He 
died  of  dropsy  in  March  1647  ;  he  was  succeeded  by  his 
only  son,  scarcely  adult,  who  had  married  Mary,  the  Prin- 
cess-royal of  England.  William  IT.,  Prince  of  Orange,  was 
too  young  to  stem  the  heavy  torrent  of  political  agitation 
which,  commencing  in  the  convulsed  British  Isles,  extended 
in  some  degree  to  Holland.  Notwithstanding  all  his  base 
truckling  to  the  murderers  of  Charles  I,  the  Elector  Charles 
Louis  received  intimation  from  them  that  they  desired  his 
absence;  and  he  it  was  who  brought  the  tidings  of  his  uncle's 
execution  to  the  Hague.^  The  horror  and  agony  which  fell 
on  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  were  fully  shared  by  the  rest  of 
her  children.  Her  daughter  Elizabeth  hastened  home  to  hold 
a  family  council  on  this  calamity ;  her  mother  became  re- 
conciled to  her,^  while  they  wept  together  the  bloody  death 
of  their  benefactor. 

As  for  her  eldest  son,  after  suing  meanly  for  money  from 
his  uncle's  inimical  Parliament,  praying  among  the  Calvin- 
istic  polemic  assemblies,  he  was  fully  prepared  to  act  the 
part  either  of  William  III.  in  1688,  or  Egalite  Duke  of 
Orleans  in  1790,  if  the  prevalent  faction  in  England  had 
shown  any  tendency  to  elect  a  monarch  in  the  place  of  the 
one  they  had  destroyed.  There  are  many  indications  of  his 
mother's  utter  horror  of  the  path  he  pursued,  as  it  became 
developed.  He  learned  too  late  that  it  was  the  kingly  office 
that  the  republican  English  wished  to  murder,  rather  than 
a  desire  to  wreak  any  hatred  of  the  person,  character,  or 
conduct  of  Charles  I. ;  and  his  nephew  might  have  thus 
understood  the  speech  that  the  regicide  Henry  Martin  made 
regarding  Cromwell,  whose  aim  to  be  King  of  England 
being  discussed  by  one  of  his  satellites,  Martin  answered, 
in  his  usual  strain  of  careless  audacity,  No,  sir,  no ;  if  we 
wanted  a  king,  the  last  gentleman  wlio  served  us  in  that 

Life  of  Descartes.  ^  Ibid.  4 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


211 


capacity  did  as  well  or  better  than  any  other/'  In  the 
Reign  of  Terror  in  France,  most  of  the  regicides  openly 
avowed  they  had  no  personal  malice  to  the  hapless  Louis 
XVI.,  nor  to  their  victims,  Marie  Antoinette,  the  blame- 
less Madame  Elizabeth,  or  the  tortured  innocent  called 
Louis  XVIL ;  they  only  meant  to  martyr  royal  authority 
in  their  persons.  Had  the  avowals  of  the  Elector  Palatine's 
parliamentary  friends  been  as  frank,  that  Prince  might  have 
spared  himself  much  time,  and  a  vast  deal  of  hypocrisy, 
wasted  in  England. 

The  Queen  of  Bohemia  had  reproved  the  Elector  for 
his  cruel  neglect  of  his  aunt.  Queen  Henrietta  Maria, 
of  whom  he  had  been  the  favoured  guest  at  her  English 
palaces,  Hampton  Court  and  Whitehall,  in  the  days  of  her 
prosperity.  His  mother,  whose  generous  spirit  scorned  the 
ways  of  her  worldling  son,  pressing  him  hard,  received  this 
answer  to  her  remonstrance  on  his  ingratitude  and  base- 
ness : — 

"  It  is  true,  Madam,  I  did  not  write  to  the  Queen  your  sister  [Henrietta 
Maria],  during  my  being  in  England,  nor  since ;  for  until  the  King  and 
Parliament  were  agreed — I  being  with  the  Parliament — it  was  not  fit  or 
safe  I  should  keep  correspondence  with  her ;  besides  that,  by  those  dis- 
courses which  she  hath  held  of  me,  both  to  the  Queen-Regent  of  France 
[Anne  of  Austria]  and  others,  as  I  am  well  informed,  both  before  King 
Charles's  death  and  since,  I  had  very  good  cause  to  believe  that  my  letters 
would  not  only  be  unacceptable,  but  also  would  be  made  use  of  to  my  preju- 
dice. And  though  the  late  King  [Charles  I.]  and  this  [Charles  II.]  have 
used  me  very  civilly,  yet  I  have  no  cause  to  believe  that  I  am  in  a  better 
predicam-ent  with  the  Queen  [Henrietta  Maria]  than  I  was  formerly  ;  and 
that  my  letters  to  her,  now  I  am  come  from  England  (and  those  there  seem 
to  be  angry  with  me  for  having  been  with  King  Charles  II.,  and  refusing  to 
see  Strickland)  may  not  be  interpreted  (especially  as  it  comes  so  late)  as  a 
respect  to  her,  but  that  I  am  driven  to  it  for  want  of  the  former  appui^ 
and  that  I  believe  more  in  the  King's  [Charles  II.]  success  than  theirs. 
Therefore  I  shall  humbly  expect  your  Majesty's  farther  pleasure  in  it, 
after  you  have  considered  of  these  my  reasons."  1 

Elizabeth's  pleasure  was,  as  it  had  ever  been,  that  this 
slippery  politician  should  act  like  a  man  of  honour ;  and  he 
fairly  owns  to  her  that  such  an  attempt  was  too  late.    As  for 


1  Bromley  Letters,  May  24,  June  3,  1649 — Cleve. 


212 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


calling  on  Sir  Walter  Strickland,^  then  the  Ambassador  from 
the  English  Parliament  to  the  Dutch  States,  that  was  really 
more  than  her  son  dared  to  do  while  he  was  her  inmate, 
within  reach  of  her  piercing  glance,  and  within  sound  of 
her  eloquent  words,  powerful  with  all  the  expression  of  true 
affection  for  her  lost  brother,  and  single-hearted  love  to  his 
family.  The  traitorous  supplanter  could  send  his  shabby 
explanations,  when  at  a  distance  from  the  mother's  search- 
ing eyes  and  thrilling  voice;  but  could  not  stand  before  her 
and  own  his  base  returns  to  those  who,  in  his  most  detract- 
ing words,  had  used  him  civilly,''  which  civility  comprised 
food,  shelter,  money,  and  kind  and  generous  intercourse. 

I  do  [not]  resolve  to  write  to  her  Majesty,  Henrietta 
Maria,"  he  adds,  which  I  hope  you  will  not  be  dissatisfied 
with,  since  you  have  ever  given  me  the  liberty,  humbly  and 
freely,  to  offer  my  thoughts  to  your  Majesty." 

When  the  rising  of  Montrose  in  the  Highlands  was  in 
course  of  preparation,  Elizabeth  aided  it  with  her  last  ready 
money,  and  very  ardent  were  her  aspirations  for  its  suc- 
cess. Montrose  visited  her  at  the  Hague,  from  whence  she 
wrote  to  him  her  apprehensions  regarding  the  unnatural 
compromise  her  young  nephew,  Charles  II.,  was  making 
as  to  taking  the  Covenant,  the  negotiations  regarding  which 
were  mediated  by  the  Prince  of  Orange. 

^'  My  Lord, — I  have  desired  Mr  Edward  Herbert  to  let  you  know  how,  by 
great  chance^  I  have  found  that  the  Prince  of  Orange  will  again  extremely 
press  the  King  to  grant  the  Commissioners'  desires,  and  so  ruin  him  through 
your  side.  I  give  you  this  warning  of  it,  that  you  may  be  provided  to 
hinder  it.  I  have  had  a  huge  dispute  with  Beverwaert  about  it.  For 
God's  sake  leave  not  the  [King]  as  long  as  he  is  at  Breda  ;  for  without  ques- 


1  Like  many  county  families,  the  two  branches  of  the  Stricklands  had 
taken  different  views  in  politics.  While  the  head  of  the  family,  Sir  Robert 
Strickland  of  Sizergli  Castle,  Westmoreland,  was  the  King's  devoted  cava- 
lier, Knight  of  the  Bath,  and  Knight  of  the  Shire  for  Westmoreland,  his 
son,  Sir  Thomas  Strickland,  had  received  the  rare  honour  of  Knight  Ban- 
neret from  the  royal  hand,  under  the  victorious  standard  of  England,  at 
Edgehill.  But  their  kinsmen  of  the  Calvinist  religion,  Sir  William  and  Sir 
Walter  Strickland  of  Boynton,  Yorkshire,  both  members  of  Parliament, 
although  not  regicides,  were  statesmen  of  the  Parliamentary  faction,  chiefly 
employed  in  foreign  affairs.  This  Sir  Walter  Strickland  had  been  Queen 
Henrietta's  stanch  opponent  at  the  Ilr.gue  in  1613,  and  was  made  a  lord 
by  Cromwell, 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


213 


tion  there  is  nothing  that  will  be  omitted  to  mine  you  and  your  friends, 
and  so  the  King  at  last.  It  is  so  late  I  can  say  no  more,  only  believe  me 
ever, 


To  the  postscript  of  her  letter  Is  banished  her  usual  merry 
mood ;  she  says  there, — 

I  give  you  many  thanks  for  your  picture.  I  have  hung  it  up  in  my 
cabinet,  to  fright  away  the  brethren.  Tell  my  Highlander  that  the  breth- 
ren do  not  forget  to  lye,  for  they  say  his  countrymen  will  [up  raise  1]  with 
them,  and  my  commendations  to  him."  ^ 

After  the  dismal  termination  of  the  expedition  of  Mon- 
trose, the  home  of  Elizabeth  was  crowded  with  distressed 
Royalists.  She  was  often  plagued  with  their  quarrels.  In- 
deed, there  were  spies  of  all  ranks  among  them,  from  the 
English  republican  government,  to  foster  strife. 

The  anniversary  of  the  death  of  her  brother,  Charles  I., 
was  observed  by  Elizabeth,  and  all  her  house,  as  a  day  of 
mourning  and  fasting.  Then  first  began  the  custom  In  the 
house  of  Stuart,  of  setting  the  fatal  January  30th  apart 
for  sorrowful  commemoration — an  observance  voluntarily 
imitated  by  their  subjects,  and  which  has  Induced  more  poli- 
tical spite  than  any  other,  for  their  political  opponents 
were  more  exasperated  at  having  to  go  to  church,  and  shut 
up  shop,  than  by  any  other  harm  that  the  royal  race  of  Stuart 

^  This  letter  is  edited  by  Mark  Napier,  Esq.  It  illustrates,  as  a  fac- 
simile autograph,  his  noble  biography  of  Montrose.  The  letter  shows  a 
great  similarity  in  the  handwriting,  and  mode  of  putting  the  letters  on  paper, 
between  that  of  James  I.  and  his  daughter.  For  the  entire  autograph  we 
refer  our  reader  to  the  biography  of  Montrose. 


214 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


ever  did,  or  could  do,  to  tliem.  Let  this  be  as  it  may,  the 
custom  was  first  begun  by  the  ardent  feelings  of  Elizabeth 
for  the  memory  of  her  murdered  brother,  in  which  observ- 
ance her  godson  and  nephew,  the  young  Duke  of  York,  his 
sister  Mary,  Princess  of  Orange,  and  their  households,  ear- 
nestly shared.  Of  course  this  grievous  fast  was  kept  as  an 
exultant  feast  by  the  regicides  over  the  water,  and  one  of 
their  spies  in  Holland  sent  a  sketch  of  the  doings  of  Eliza- 
beth at  the  Hague  : — ^ 

"  Your  thanksgiving  of  January  30th  was,  by  the  courts  and  royal  kin- 
dred here,  appointed  as  a  solemn  fast  for  the  old  King's  [Charles  I.]  death, 
but  was  comically  disappointed.  For  when  they  all  met  in  the  Fi-ench 
Church,  where  your  English  missals  [Church  of  England  Common  Prayer] 
also  are  performed,  the  Great  Hall  sent  one  to  command  them  to  be  silent 
and  depart.  They  disdainfully  refused.  The  messenger  told  them  he  had 
command  to  turn  the  key,  and  shut  them  in,  if  he  could  not  shut  them 
out ;  upon  which  they  departed.  Yet  they  turned  it  into  a  lesser  conven- 
ticle in  the  Princess  Royal's  [Princess  of  Orange]  presence-chamber." 

The  newsmonger  considered  the  religious  service  of  the 
sorrowing  sister  and  children  of  Charles  1.  as  a  monstrous 
affront  to  the  republicans  of  England.  But  that  was  not 
heeded  by  Elizabeth,  who  had  instituted  it.  She  cared  not 
for  selfish  interests,  or  for  her  children  being  viewed  by  a 
pretty  numerous  party  in  England  as  the  probable  supplant- 
ers  of  those  of  her  beloved  brother.  She  loved  him  de- 
votedly, not  as  those  in  the  line  of  regal  succession  to 
mighty  realms  usually  love  their  brethren,  but  with  an 
honest,  natural,  human  creature's  love — hating  his  persecu- 
tors and  murderers  with  a  lively  hatred,  crying  to  God  and 
man  incessantly  for  vengeance  on  his  enemies ;  cherishing 
his  children  and  his  friends,  and  defying  his  foes  to  her 
utmost  possible  power.  And  all  these  feelings  are  plainly 
seen  in  her  letters,  attested  by  her  hand. 

The  treaty  of  Westphalia  restored  to  the  eldest  son  of 
Elizabeth  part  of  the  territories  of  his  father.  He  was 
permitted  to  return  to  Heidelberg  as  sovereign  of  the 
Lower  Palatinate,  being  recognised  by  the  Emperor,  Ferdi- 
nand IIL,  as  Elector  Palatine,  but  was  placed  as  the  last 
of  the  electoral  princes,  instead  of  taking  rank  as  the  first, 

^  Letter  printed  in  Thurloe's  State  Papers,  February  1649-50. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


215 


which  had  been  the  privilege  of  his  ancestors.  The  surrender 
of  Heidelberg  and  the  Rhenish  provinces  gave  some  prospect 
to  Elizabeth  of  the  restoration  of  her  dower-land  on  the 
rich  banks  of  the  Rhine.  But  no  prospects  of  better  times 
could  efface  from  her  mind  the  tragedy  that  hurried  to 
a  bloody  grave  the  loved  companion  of  her  youth.  She 
would  not  share  in  the  peace-festivities  celebrated  at  the 
Hague,  or  hear  the  sound  of  joy.  One  benefit  accrued  to 
her,  the  absence  of  a  son  who  never  ceased  tormenting  her. 
He  married,  February  12,  1650,  Charlotte  of  Hesse,  at  Cas- 
sel,  and  went  to  reign  with  her  at  Heidelberg. 

Charlotte,  the  Electress-Dowager  of  Bradenburg,  who  had 
always  been  the  warm  friend  of  Elizabeth,  and  a  kind  aunt 
to  her  children,  proposed,  in  the  course  of  the  year  1650, 
to  negotiate  the  offer  made  by  the  Ragoczki,  Prince  of 
Transylvania,  for  her  niece  Henrietta.  The  two  ladies 
carried  on  the  treaty.  Elizabeth  gave  her  formal  consent 
to  the  match  ;  and  this  was  rather  remarkable,  considering 
the  deistical  tendencies  of  the  Transylvanian  Prince.  The 
religion  of  the  wooer  is  not  mentioned  by  the  Elector, 
Charles  Louis,  in  his  despatch  to  his  mother. 

"  I  send,"  he  says,^  "  a  copy  for  your  Majesty's  use  of  what  I  sent  to  the 
Electress  [of  Brandenburg],  concerning  the  Transylvanian  business ;  if  it 
[the  young  Princess's  settlement]  can  be  brought  higher,  it  will  be  so  much 
the  better.  The  ambassador  that  is  here  pretended  to  treat  with  me  about 
it,  though  he  have  no  sufficient  power.  I  have,  with  a  civil  answer  of 
neither  '  Aye '  nor  '  No,'  referred  to  the  Electress,  to  whom  his  commission 
is  directed,  having  only  brought  me  letters  of  credence  from  the  Prince 
Regent  [of  Transylvania]  and  his  mother,  as  also  your  Majesty's  consent. 
But,  for  my  part,  I  like  the  other  match  better,  though  this  is  the  most  pro- 
fitable for  her  in  matter  of  money.  I  have  written  to  Vienna,  to  inform 
myself  how  things  stand  with  him,  and  whether  the  Emperor  gives  him 
the  title  of  Prince,  which  he  pretends  to,  because,  as  the  ambassador  says, 
the  principality  is  by  the  States  entailed  on  his  family.  The  Princess  of 
Tarente  is  here  now,  with  her  young  sister.  She  is  much  altered  for  the 
better  in  her  fashion  and  behaviour.  The  niggardliness  of  her  mother, 
which  she  much  complains  of,  hath  done  her  a  great  deal  of  good." 

These  ladies  were  princesses  of  the  house  of  Hesse- 
Cassel.  The  elder,  Amelia,  Princess  of  Tarente,  was  wife 
of  the  near  kinsman  of  his  father,  and  commander  of  the 
Dutch  cavalry  stationed  at  Breda.    They  were  sisters  of 

^  Bromley  Letters,  September  1650. 


216 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


his  most  unhappy  wife.  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia  heard  the 
first  mention  of  her  by  her  son  in  this  despatch.  It  con- 
tained, however,  other  matters  of  moment  to  her,  even  the 
discussion  of  the  money  she  looked  for  at  the  hands  of  her 
son,  in  payment  of  her  own  dower,  the  income  settled  on 
her  by  his  father. 

"  If  the  Elector  of  Mayence  fail  me,"  he  writes  to  his  mother,  "  then  I 
am  bankrupt,  both  with  your  Majesty,  the  merchants  at  Frankfort,  and  my 
own  servants ;  but  I  hope  better,  since  all  is  concluded  between  him  and 
me,  and  they  are  now  upon  taking  the  bounds  of  what  land  is  to  be  given 
and  left  on  either  side." 

Elizabeth  liad  written  to  him  her  regrets  that  her  nephew, 
the  young  Charles  II.,  then  at  Edinburgh,  should  comply 
with  the  Scotch  Covenanters  in  all  their  peculiarities.  She 
went  with  Montrose  in  all  his  views,  and  never  hid  her 
opinion.    Her  son  observes  to  her  in  reply  : — 

"  I  do  not  wonder  at  King  Charles  II.'s  complying  with  the  Scotch  of 
Argyll's  party  in  all  things,  since  once  he  trusted  himself  in  their  hands. 
And  they  write  from  London  that  he  hath  done  public  kirk  penance  ;  the 
truth  thereof,  if  it  be  measured  according  to  the  strictness  of  their  disci- 
pline, may  well  not  be  doubted  of.  But  I  shall  not/' — he  adds,  [with  a  sneer, 
which  shows  how  much  he  enjoyed  the  discussion  of  this  matter  with  his 
mother,  who  was  full  of  passionate  grief  for  any  degradation  happening  to 
a  royal  Stuart,] — "  I  shall  not  give  credit  unto  it,  until  I  hear  it  from  your 
Majesty ) " 

The  Elector  was  then  settled  among  the  ruins  of  the  once 
splendid  Heidelberg,  with  Charlotte  of  Hesse-Cassel,  his 
rich  bride  ;  for  the  princes  of  her  house  had  thriven  amidst 
the  woes  of  Germany,  by  letting  out  their  subjects  to  fight 
the  battles  of  their  neighbours  for  a  consideration  ;  a  prac- 
tice which  made  their  names  somewhat  inodorous  in  Chris- 
tendom. The  tempers  of  the  handsome  Elector  and  his  spouse 
were  somewhat  of  the  haughtiest,  promising  little  domestic 
peace  ;  three  individuals,  however,  of  Elizabeth's  needy 
and  uneasy  family  were  provided  for  by  this  change.  The 
restored  Elector  invited  his  eldest  sister  Elizabeth  to  be 
the  first  lady  of  his  bride  ;  and  when  in  the  course  of 
time  he  became  the  father  of  a  daughter,  his  younger  sister 
Sophia  was  withdrawn  by  him  from  her  mother's  protection 
and  established  as  lady-governess  of  the  little  Elizabeth 
Charlotte.^  A  letter  written  by  the  Electress  his  wife  is  still 
^  Letters  of  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  Duchess  of  Orleans. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


217 


extant,  addressed  to  her  mother-in-law^  from  "Heydelberg, 
May  31, 1652/'  Nothing  can  be  more  lowly  than  the  lan- 
guage with  which  she  solicits  Elizabeth's  protection  for  her 
little  new-born  son,  promising  that,  with  the  aid  of  God,  he 
shall  be  brought  up  to  regard  her  with  every  feeling  of 
respect  and  reverence.  She  mentions  her  mother  as  con- 
valescent from  some  illness,  but  pleased  with  Elizabeth's 
remembrances  of  her.  Without  containing  any  historical 
fact,  it  is  a  pretty  feminine  French  letter,  making  a  far  more 
pleasing  impression  on  its  readers  than  any  by  her  husband. 

The  Queen  of  Bohemia  was  thus  left  with  only  two 
daughters,  Louisa  and  Henrietta  Maria,  both  beautiful  and 
highly  educated.  Louisa,  who  devoted  herself  to  painting, 
chiefly  resided  at  the  Chateau  of  Ehenen,  where  she  wrapped 
herself  entirely  up  in  the  study  of  her  delightful  art,  under 
the  care  and  tuition  of  the  famous  Gerard  Honthorst,  who, 
having  tasted  the  bounties  of  James  and  Charles  L,  repaid 
them  by  the  most  sedulous  attention  to  their  relatives  in  the 
darkest  time  of  their  destiny.  It  is  said  that  many  of  the 
latter  pictures  of  Honthorst  were  painted  by  Louisa,  and 
that  he  disposed  of  them  for  her,  by  which  means  she  was 
able  to  ameliorate  the  poverty  that  beset  her.  Even  now 
her  acknowledged  pictures  bear  high  prices  for  their  indi- 
vidual merit.^  Many  times  this  briUiant  young  lady  had 
been  wooed  by  Protestant  German  princes — among  others 
by  the  great  Elector,  William  Frederic  of  Brandenburg, 
who  was  supposed  to  be  passionately  attached  to  her. 
Poverty  separated  this  love,  like  many  others ;  he  took  one 
of  the  golden  damsels  of  the  line  of  Orange,  who  blessed 
him  with  a  crooked  dwarf  for  an  heir,  even  the  odd-tempered 
Frederic  L,  King  of  Prussia.  The  destitute  Louisa,  Princess 
Palatine,  was  left  to  her  easels.  Her  sweet  sister  and  com- 
panion, Henrietta,  was  not  so  fortunate.  Her  brother,  the 
Elector  Charles  Louis,  concluded  for  her  the  match  with 
the  Prince  of  Transylvania.  She  was  married  to  him 
April  4,  1651.  He  was  a  Socinian,  or  rather  a  Deist — a  pro- 
fession of  faith  very  conveniently  assimilating  with  that  of 

^  J.  Gregory,  Esq.  of  Sutton  Court,  has  favoured  us  with  a  copy  of  the 
original,  which  was  enclosed  in  an  autograph  letter  from  Charles  11.  while 
in  exile,  and  endorsed,  "  To  my  dere  aunt,  the  Queen  of  Bohemia.^^ 

2  Granger. 


218 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


the  Turks,  his  neighbours  and  allies.  Kagoezki  soon  after 
entered  into  an  unequal  struggle  to  wrest  Transylvania 
from  the  supremacy  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany.  His 
young  bride  only  survived  her  marriage  four  or  five  months. 
She  was  taken  from  the  evil  to  come,  for  her  lord  died  a 
fugitive,  in  misery. 

The  elastic  spring  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia's  high  spirits 
was  not  broken  altogether,  though  the  winter  of  the  next 
year  set  in  with  alarming  symptoms  that  she  should  have  to 
look  to  chance  or  charity  for  her  daily  bread.  Civil  com- 
motions in  Holland  threw  her  pension  in  arrear ;  and  as  to 
the  revenue  due  from  her  son  the  Elector,  on  one  liti- 
gious pretence  or  other  he  remitted  to  her  so  little,  that 
having  sent  Lord  Craven  to  urge  her  wants  on  him,  she 
wrote  to  that  faithful  friend,  November  3,  a  piteous  and 
almost  incredible  picture  of  her  distresses,  as  no  parable,'' 
she  says,  "  but  the  certain  truth,  the  next  week  I  shall 
have  no  food  to  eat,  having  no  money  nor  credit  for  any ; 
and  this  week,  if  there  be  none  found,  I  shall  neither  have 
meat,  nor  bread,  nor  candles/'^  She  guessed  that  the 
Elector  meant  that  she  would  be  forced  to  sell  her  jewels, 
because  he  was  pretty  sure  that  she  would  leave  no  part  of 
them  to  him ;  but  she  declares  that,  if  that  be  the  case,  she 
will  bequeath  what  he  owes  her  to  the  rest  of  her  family.'" 
The  Chancery  of  the  Empire  regulated  legal  questions  of 
the  kind,  it  is  true,  too  much  with  the  delays  and  hesitation 
of  the  English  Chancery,  for  they  are  offsets  of  the  same 
tree;  yet  there  were  such  inflictions  as  "  bans  of  the  Empire" 
for  contumacious  members  of  the  great  German  Bund,  and 
the  bitter  fruits  of  these  edicts  were  not  then  out  of  the  new 
Elector's  memory.  His  mother  mentions  that  she  expected 
that  an  award  of  the  kind  would  give  him  c£30,000,  which 
he  claimed  as  heir  of  his  deceased  brother  and  sister,  which 
is  somewhat  doubtful,  as  two  brothers  and  two  sisters  were 
then  dead ;  but  perhaps  she  means  Henrietta  and  Philip : 
the  last  had  lately  found  a  soldier's  grave,  fighting  at  the 
siege  of  Rhetel  for  France  against  Spain.^  The  Elector,  in 
reply,  first  urged  her  to  come  to  Heidelberg:  this  she 
vowed  she  would  not  do  in  the  winter,  although  she  sup- 
^  Bromley  Letters.  '  ^  Theatre  de  I'Europe. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


219 


posed  lie  meant  to  starve  her  out  of  the  Hague,  as  he 
would  a  blockaded  fortress.  If,  however,  she  was  forced  by 
such  ill-usage  to  join  him  at  Heidelberg,  she  openly  de- 
clared that  she  should  not  prove  very  pleasant  company  ; 
and  she  adds,  a  few  days  later,  "  Let  him  set  his  head  at 
rest ;  I  will  not  stir  this  winter,  let  him  be  as  tyrannical 
as  he  will.''  The  Elector  sent  her  some  money  on  her 
stringent  urgency,  but  not  enough.  He  likewise  com- 
manded his  sister  Sophia  to  write  her  a  letter,  attributing 
his  neglect  to  a  long  illness,  occasioned  by  a  dislocation  of 
his  arm.  The  mother  expressed  her  grief  to  Lord  Craven 
for  his  sufferings.^  She  found,''  she  said,  '4hat  he  could  not 
make  her  hate  him  or  wish  him  ill;  but  she  regrets  her 
former  devotion  to  him,  which  had  led  her  to  involve  her- 
self for  his  sake.  She  knew  very  well  that  it  was  his 
niggardly  hand,  not  his  lame  arm,  that  caused  him  to  with- 
hold her  due,  howsoever  his  amanuensis,  his  favourite 
sister  Sophia,  might  make  the  best  of  this  vague  excuse." 
The  following  letter  which  he  addressed  to  his  mother, 
November  1653,  proves  that  he  was  aware  that  she  keenly 
felt  his  conduct ;  and  as  Elizabeth  seldom  had  anything  on 
her  mind  that  she  did  not  divulge,  it  is  likewise  evident 
that  she  had  so  expressed  herself.  As  for  her  undutiful  son 
and  wily  correspondent,  it  may  be  noticed  that,  -after  inflict- 
ing on  her  pecuniary  wrong,  he  was  always  very  humble  in 
his  phraseology. 

The  Elector  Palatine,  Charles  Louis,  to  the  Queen  of  Bohemia.^ 
"  Madam, — The  intermission  of  a  three  months'  pain  in  my  right 
shoulder  is  not  so  satisfactory  to  me  as  that  it  renders  me  more  able  to 
give  your  Majesty  most  humble  thanks,  though  in  an  ill  character  [of  pen- 
manship], for  the  care  [concern]  you  were  pleased  to  show  on  my  sad  acci- 
dent, which  I  desired  my  sister  Sophia  to  perform  for  me  whilst  I  was  so 
unfit  for  that  duty,  as  I  am  still,  to  my  great  grief,  for  the  other  your 
Majesty  may  require  of  me. 

"  And  though  I  ever  have  longed  for  the  honour  and  happiness  of  kiss- 
ing your  hands  in  this  place  [Heidelberg],  yet  now  I  see  that  the  relation 
of  my  present  condition,  as  it  is  made  by  your  own  as  well  as  by  my  ser- 
vants, is  so  little  credited,  I  am  the  more  earnest  to  wish  that  your  Majesty 
may  be  an  eyewitness  of  it,  and  then  I  am  confident  that  your  Majesty 
will  have  a  better  opinion  of  my  endeavours,  though  never  so  little  con- 
siderable [profitable]  to  you  at  present. 


^  Autograph  letter  to  Craven. 


2  Bromley  Letters,  p.  159. 


220 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


"  The  last  post  from  Ratisbon  brought  me  the  final  agreement  between 
the  Duke  of  Simmeren  i  and  my  ambassador  there,  which  is  now  drawing 
up.  This  is  the  sum  of  it  : — He  leaves  me  at  present  two-thirds  of  the 
Ampt-Stromberg,  one-fifth  of  the  revenues  of  the  Ampt-Creutznach,  and 
some  certain  church-lands  in  the  Ampt-Lautern,  with  the  vote  and  session 
of  the  principality;  and  after  his  and  his  wife's  decease,  the  whole  Ampt- 
Lautern  except  Ottenberg.  The  rest  remains  according  to  the  brotherly 
division.  If  I  had  been  sure  of  a  quick  despatch  in  law,  I  should  not  have 
quitted  my  right  at  so  small  a  rate ;  but  since  friendship  is  more  worth  than 
long  pleadings,  I  have  condescended  to  the  aforesaid  agreement, 

"  As  for  what  your  Majesty  is  pleased  to  command  about  changing  the 
drunken  castelaiu  at  Rhenen''*  for  Grandin,  I  am  ready  to  obey  you  as  soon 
as  I  can,  by  giving  the  other  some  content  for  his  arrears  [of  wages],  de- 
spatch him,  and  agree  with  this  about,  his  entertainment. 

Your  Majesty  will  perceive  by  all  my  writing,  that  though  my  pain  be 
almost  spent,  yet  a  great  weakness  continues  in  the  nerves  of  my  arm  and 
hand,  which  are  somewhat  withered,  and  not  without  pain  now  whilst  I 
write,  or  when  I  use  it  in  any  other  way,  which  I  hope  will  plead  for  my 
scribbles,  as  [for]  my  other  inabilities,  for  not  showing  that  duty  and 
obedience  [after]  which,  in  all  j^ossible  ways,  I  shall  endeavour,  whilst  I 
live,  as  your  Majesty's  most  humble  son  and  servant, 

"  Charles." 

Endorsed—"  Heidelberg,  this  26th  November  1653." 

Elizabeth's  early  friend  and  faithful  brother-in-law,  the 
Duke  of  Simmeren,  comes  again  into  notice  in  this  de- 
spatch. Difference  of  religion  and  politics  had  estranged 
his  brother's  widow  and  her  family  from  him.  He  did  not 
long  survive  the  settlement  alluded  to  here;  and  we  shall 
see  his  sister  mention  his  death  in  one  of  her  sportive  let- 
ters with  less  than  indifference. 

As  for  the  invitations  the  Elector  gave  his  mother,  in  the 
style  here  shown,  to  come  to  Heidelberg  and  see  with  her 
own  eyes  how  little  he  could  afford  to  help  her,  insincere  as 
they  were,  they  actually  caused  her  to  turn  her  thoughts  to 
her  dower-palaces  of  Frankenthal  and  Fridesheim,  which  last 
she  loved  exceedingly,  having  had  beautiful  gardens  enclos- 
ing a  vineyard;  "  all  destroyed,  she  understands  ;''  but  "  she 
thinks  the  Elector  is  bound  in  duty  to  restore  them.''  The 
Elector  did  not  mean  to  acknowledge  any  such  duty  ;  "  his 
crotchets,"  as  he  calls  them,  kept  his  time  and  money  in  full 
employment ;  he  was  repudiating  his  unfortunate  consort, 

^  Louis  Philip,  Duke  of  Simmeren,  his  father's  younger  brother,  often 
mentioned  in  the  earlier  chapters  of  this  Biography. 

^  Printed  "  Jlhe/lms,"  where  neither  the  Elector  nor  his  mother  had  busi- 
ness or  power — evidently  meant  lihcnen. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


221 


Charlotte  of  Hesse,  and  marrying  a  German  Anne  Boleyn, 
in  strong  imitation  of  his  collateral  ancestor  Henry  VIIL 
The  excuse  of  want  of  male  offspring  did  not,  however,  hold 
good  in  this  case,  for  the  Electress  had  brought  him  a  son, 
who  lived  to  succeed  him.  Another  of  his  "  crotchets''  was 
the  marriage  he  was  endeavouring  to  bring  about  with  his 
sister  Sophia  and  her  near  kinsman  Prince  Adolph  of  Deux- 
ponts,  which,  like  most  of  the  offers  made  to  EHzabeth's 
daughters,  came  to  nothing. 

The  three  fatal  years  after  the  terrible  death  of  her  brother 
deprived  Elizabeth  of  two  of  her  children,  and  of  a  friend 
who  seemed  her  sole  remaining  stay.  This  was  William  II., 
Stadtholder  and  titular  Prince  of  Orange.  His  early  loss  had 
thrown  her  niece,  the  Princess  Mary,  into  all  the  troubles  of 
widowhood  at  nineteen.  She  was  likewise  the  mother  of  a  little 
sickly  son,  afterwards  William  III.,  born  a  few  days  after  the 
young  father's  death.  The  guardianship  of  this  infant  pro- 
duced altercations  between  the  grandmother,  Amelia  of 
Solms,  and  the  young  mother.  Amelia  had  built  a  beauti- 
ful house  at  the  extremity  of  the  forest  that  skirts  the  Hague. 
Le  Valais  de  la  Bois  de  Haye  is  its  historical  name  ;  but  the 
Dutch  called  it  Beauty  Hof,  because  Elizabeth,  her  young 
princesses,  and  the  ladies  of  the  exiled  English  cavaliers, 
were  frequently  visiting  the  elder  Dowager  of  Orange,  and 
seen  in  its  glittering  chambers,  which  were  wholly  furnished 
with  Indian  and  Japan  movables  and  rarities.  When  the 
cavalier  proteges  of  the  distressed  Queen  at  the  Hague 
or  at  Ehenen  suffered  from  cold  and  starvation,  they  mi- 
grated to  these  hospitable  bowers,  or  to  the  palaces  of  the 
youthful  Orange  Dowager  at  Tiding  or  Breda.  Bitter  foes 
to  each  other,  the  Orange  Dowagers  never  extended  their 
hostility  to  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  who  was  permitted  to 
love  them  both.  She  had  been  the  mistress  of  one  belli- 
gerent lady,  and  was  the  aunt  of  the  other.  They  agreed  in  no 
point  but  in  cherishing  her.  By  the  united  interest  of  both 
she  obtained  from  the  Dutch  government  a  certain  stipend 
of  about  £18  per  month,  which  actually  kept  the  wolf  from 
the  door,  while  she  devoted  all  she  could  obtain  from  her 
graceless  son  the  Elector  towards  liquidating  her  debts, 
which  were,  though  some  seemed  still  very  troublesome, 


222 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


reduced  greatly  towards  this  period,  when  she  dispensed  with 
her  numerous  stud  of  horses,  and  army  of  grooms  and  stablers. 
After  these  sources  of  profuse  expenditure  had  been  sup- 
pressed, the  letters  of  the  Queen  assume  a  most  cheerful 
tone.  The  crowds  formerly  surrounding  her,  clamouring 
for  gifts  and  gratuities  with  the  perseverance  of  Orientals, 
dispersed  with  the  entire  conviction  that  their  precious 
time  was  lost  when  seeking  for  that  which  it  was  self- 
evident  was  not  to  be  had. 

Elizabeth  now  disposed  of  most  of  her  jewels,  and,  alter- 
ing her  style  of  dress,  became  what  Pepys  termed  a  very 
''plain  lady'' — a  term,  though  used  as  a  civil  expression 
in  the  next  century  for  lack  of  personal  beauty,  at  this  pe- 
riod meant  merely  a  wearer  of  unbedizened  garments.  Had 
she  adopted  these  excellent  rules  when  her  calamities  first 
began,  she  would  have  been  speedily  free  from  debt.  The 
character  for  boundless  extravagance  still  clave  to  her, 
and  was  believed  in  by  her  nearest  relatives,  who  could 
not  help  remembering  the  vast  sums  she  had  formerly 
wasted  in  idle  pageantry.  She  reformed  all  this  perforce, 
yet  obtained  little  credit  for  so  doing,  but  her  private  com- 
fort must  have  been  great.  She  made  many  visits,  occa- 
sionally sharing  in  the  gaieties  of  Brussels — always  a  most 
agreeable  city,  but  now  enriched  and  enlivened  by  the  resi- 
dence of  the  viceroys  from  Spain,  the  Archduchess  and  her 
cardinal  spouse,  with  whom  Elizabeth  had,  even  in  the  heat 
of  the  Calvinist  war,  been  on  good  terms. 

All  the  spring  of  1653-54,  the  Elector  affected  to  be 
making  preparations  to  receive  his  mother  at  Heidel- 
berg. Having  learned  (he  writes  to  her,  February  3,  by 
Sir  Charles  Cottrel)— 

"  That  it  will  not  be  your  fault  if  you  do  not  bless  us  with  your  presence 
here,  which  I  am  the  more  encouraged  to  hope  for,  since  the  making  peace 
between  Cromwell  and  the  States  [Dutch]  may  produce  the  payment  of 
your  creditors,  and  an  unfitness  of  your  abode  with  them.  Though  I 
know  there  is  nothing  here  that  can  add  a  pleasing  cause  to  that  necessity, 
if  your  Majesty's  grace  and  favour  do  not  supply  its  inconveniences,  yet,  I 
hope,  we  will  keep  them  in  their  own  turbulent  sphere  without  troujble  to 
the  higher  region."  ^ 

^  Bromley  Letters,  p.  178. 


ELIZABETH  STUART, 


223 


Bj  these  mysterious  words,  he  alludes  to  the  violent 
quarrels  between  liimself  and  his  consort,  Charlotte  of  Hesse, 
then  in  their  height.  He  reproached  his  mother  afterwards, 
that  she  did  not  come  when  he  pressed  her,  because  her 
presence  might  have  given  a  turn  to  those  deplorable  dif- 
ferences ;  thus  showing  a  touch  of  regret,  if  one  deceitful  as 
he  was  may  be  given  credit  for  regret  of  wrong-doing. 
Elizabeth  dared  not  venture  herself  in  what  he  truly  called 
their  "  turbulent  sphere,''  although  he  continued  to  consult 
her  on  the  situation  she  was  to  occupy  in  her  once  magnifi- 
cent home. 

"  I  shall  by  your  Majesty's  permission  desire  to  know  in  time  which 
lodgings  [suite  of  apartments]  you  will  please  to  make  choice  at  Henry's 
Building/  and  in  it  the  Emperor's  lodging,  for  yourself,  and  the  rooms 
above  for  your  women,  to  which  there  is  a  new  staircase  made  from 
the  said  Emperor's  apartments,  which  Sir  Charles  Cottrel  hath  not  seen. 
Or  the  upper  rooms  in  my  grandfather's  buildings  (which  are  upon 
the  same  floor),  with  the  ruined  Glassen  Saal  [saloon  of  mirrors],  for  your- 
self and  your  women  as  above  said.  In  that  case  they  will  be  somewhat 
farther  from  your  person  than  if  you  lay  below.  Except  you  would  have 
them  in  the  rooms  above  the  Frauzeimer  [lady's  chamber],  where  I  hear 
the  Duke  of  Deuxponts  lay,  which  is  nearer.  I  shall  expect  your  Majesty's 
commands  herein,  and  other  particulars,  from  Sir  Charles  Cottrel.  I  shall 
not  fail  to  observe  your  Majesty's  commands  touching  the  two  cabinets 
your  Majesty  desires ;  but  I  doubt  we  shall  hardly  find  two  of  equal  good- 
ness on  one  floor.  I  believe  your  Majesty  will  have  the  Princess  of  Zol- 
lern's  Marquis  of  Bady  [Baden]  here  very  often ;  he  is  a  very  gaudy  old 
gentleman,  and  pretends  much  friendship  to  us,  but  I  doubt  he  is  some- 
what double,  at  least  he  is  reported  so.  He  was  here  yesterday,  and  being 
a  Judge  of  the  Chamber  of  Spier,  will  reside  there  with  his  family.  His 
two  eldest  sons  have  much  wit,  and  are  well  bred.  I  can  name  few  more 
in  our  country  that  are  conversible,  and  the  women  as  little ;  what  they 
imitate  in  strangers  is  still  the  worst.  Those  that  are  of  the  French  have 
nothing  of  them  but  their  clothes;  French  letters  ill-spelled,  and  the 
affetteries  of  the  Marais  [in  Paris],  from  whence  they  have  all  their  modes. 
Those  that  are  after  the  Spanish  show  it  in  their  guard  infantas  [fardin- 
gales],  only  in  everything  else  they  are  as  dull  or  impertinent  as  can  be."  ^ 

By  what  follows,  it  appears  that  he  means  to  allude 
to  the  fact  that  Elizabeth  was  making  some  claims  on  per- 
sonal property  at  Sedan  and  Rhenen,  as  left  her  by  word 
of  mouth  by  King  Frederic,  her  husband  ;  for  Charles 
Louis  works  himself  up  into  a  passion  when  concluding 

^  Elector  Palatine,  who  built  in  the  middle  ages  great  part  of  the  palace. 
2  Bromley  Letters,  p.  178. 


224 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


his  letter  respecting  them,  in  his  own  peculiar  style,  which  was 

always  to  introduce  something  spiteful  with  polite  words  : — 

^'  I  think  myself  much  bound  to  your  Majesty  for  your  gracious  wish, 
but  had  been  glad  to  have  known  the  King  my  father's  saying,  when  I 
spoke  to  your  Majesty  of  my  intentions  at  my  last  coming  out  of  England 
in  your  bedchamber.  But  any  stranger  would  be  deceived  in  that  humour, 
since  towards  them  there  is  nothing  but  mildness  and  complaisance  until 
accustomed  to  them.  Patience  !  every  one  must  bear  their  task  [burden], 
and  it  is  mine  to  bear  several  ones  !  If  I  may  deserve  your  Majesty's  con- 
stant favour,  it  will  be  the  greatest  comfort  to  your  unfortunate  son  and 
servant." 

Here  was  a  rather  aggravating  insinuation,  that  the 
Queen,  his  lady  mother,  was  all  smiles  and  gracious  be- 
haviour to  new  faces,  while  his  unfortunate  self  met  with 
different  treatment.  At  the  bottom  of  all  his  patience  in 
bearing  the  burdens,  for  which  he  so  affectionately  pities 
himself,  was  his  father's  bequest  to  his  mother  of  certain 
articles  of  household  goods,  called  ''stuff  by  him  in  a 
subsequent  despatch,  of  which  he  had  the  strongest  inclina- 
tion to  deprive  her. 

The  mysterious  loss  of  Prince  Maurice  agitated  the  close 
of  the  year  1653  ;  yet  his  mother  never  seems  to  have 
mourned  him  as  dead.  In  fact,  from  the  hour  of  his  de- 
parture in  the  preceding  year,  with  a  large  English  ship  of 
war,  to  cruise  in  the  South  Seas,^  no  one  ever  ascertained 
what  became  of  him.  Some  newsmongers  reported  that, 
disgusted  with  Europe,  he  had  realised  the  plan  his  uncle 
Charles  I.  had  projected  for  Eupert  of  colonising  an 
island,2  and  that  he  was  reigning  long  afterwards  in  one  of 
the  Polynesian  group.  But  some  traces  would  assuredly 
have  been  found  of  him  and  the  contents  of  his  vessel,  by 
the  discoverers  in  those  latitudes  in  the  present  and  last 
centuries.  In  the  summer  of  1654  Eh'zabeth  heard  a  ru- 
mour that  Prince  Maurice  had  been  shipwrecked  on  some 
coast  in  Africa  or  Asia  which  owed  allegiance  to  the 
Sultan,  and  had  been  sent  a  prisoner  to  Constantinople. 
With  such  confidence  was  this  report  received,  that  Prince 
Rupert  set  out  for  Vienna  in  order  to  be  nearer  to  his 
brother.     The  Elector  Charles  Louis,  in  a  letter  to  his 

^  One  of  those  that  revolted  from  the  Parliament. 
^  Howeirs  Letters. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


225 


mother,  dated  June  1654,  mentions  the  existence  of  the 
lost  Maurice,  though  not  without  a  shade  of  doubt,  say- 
ing, "  As  for  my  brother  Maurice,  my  brother  Rupert  who 
is  now  here  thinks  the  way,  by  the  Emperor's  agent  at 
Constantinople,  too  far  about  for  his  liberty  (if  the  news  be 
true),  but  that  from  Marseilles  we  may  best  know  the  cer- 
tainty, as  also  the  way  of  his  releasement."  ^  But  there 
was  no  certainty  ever  established  concerning  the  fate  of 
Maurice.  Hope  died  out  almost  insensibly.  It  never 
deserted  the  sanguine  mind  of  Elizabeth  ;  her  lost  son's 
return  was  not  despaired  of  among  his  brothers  and  sisters, 
until  long  after  she  had  quitted  life. 

^  Bromley  Letters,  p.  167. 


VOL.  VIII. 


P 


ELIZABETH 


STUART 


CHAPTER 


VIII. 


SUMMAEY 


The  Queen  of  Bohemia's  letters,  wherein  she  sends  her  nephew,  Charles  II., 
and  Mary,  Princess  of  Orange,  the  gossip  of  the  Hague — Mentions  Queen 
Christina — Exults  in  the  valour  of  her  godson,  James,  Duke  of  York — 
Eegrets  the  death  of  her  niece's  maid,  Kate  Killigrew — Praises  her  suc- 
cessor, Anne  Hyde — Reports  Cromwell's  expected  kingship — Friendship 
with  Lady  Browne,  Mrs  Evelyn's  mother — Asks  Charles  II. 's  consent  for 
the  marriage  of  Sophia— Reports  quarrels  of  Cromwell  and  Parliament 
— Her  monkey,  Apollo — Mary  of  Orange  joins  Elizabeth  at  Tiding — 
Their  kind  reception  of  young  Gloucester  from  his  English  captivity — 
Grieves  for  his  persecution  by  his  mother  when  at  Paris — Speaks  of 
"  her  favourite,"  Anne  Hyde — Queen  of  Bohemia's  tour  to  Brussels  with 
Princess  Hohenzollern — Her  resentment  against  Christina  of  Sweden — 
Messages  from  her — Avoids  her — Goes  to  Antwerp  and  Bergen — Warm 
interest  in  young  Gloucester — Receives  his  visit — Elizabeth's  gossip  con- 
cerning Christina  and  Conde — Laughs  at  Charles  IL's  old  statesman  in 
love — Escape  of  her  monkey — Her  remarks  on  the  spy  Manning — On 
the  Swedish  and  Brandenburg  affairs — Satire  on  Christina — Considers 
Cromwell  the  Beast  in  Revelations — Account  of  a  grand  Dutch  fete — 
Vivacious  abuse  of  Cromwell — Her  letters  on  battles  and  balls — News 
concerning  Cromwell — Elizabeth's  troubles  with  Mrs  Grenville — Merry 
doings  at  Carnival — Elizabeth  preached  against — Her  daughter  Louisa 
paints  her  cousin's  portrait — Charles  IL's  letter  to  Elizabeth  concerning 
it — Her  son's  base  behaviour. 

All  vague  guesses,  bold  shots  at  probable  circumstances, 
and  other  unsatisfactory  biographical  labours,  are  spared, 
whensoever  our  royal  lady  condescends  to  take  the  pen  of 
a  ready-writer  in  her  own  hand,  and  relates  what  she  is 
about,  and  where  she  is.    Elizabeth  undertook  this  plea- 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


227 


sant  task,  when  her  niece  and  nephew,  Mary  Princess  of 
Orange  and  Charles  II.,  left  Breda  for  a  long  and  merry 
tour,  commencing  at  the  baths  of  Aix-la-Ohapelle,  and 
ending  with  the  settlement  of  Charles  II.  at  Cologne — a 
period  which  all  the  parties  concerned  often  alluded  to  as 
the  happiest  portion  of  their  lives.  Elizabeth's  letters, 
though  addressed  to  Charles  II.'s  cavalier  secretary,  Sir 
Edward  Nicolas,  present  an  unbroken  narrative  of  all  that 
was  going  on  wheresoever  she  went,  and  all  she  saw  and 
heard,  for  the  information  of  her  niece  Mary  and  her  nephew 
Charles.  She  commenced  her  gay  correspondence  the  very 
day  the  royal  party  arrived  at  the  waters  of  Aix.  No  little 
talent  does  the  lively  writer  display  in  her  self-imposed 
occupation  as  a  journalist,  in  a  series  of  letters  which  ful- 
filled the  useful  purpose  of  a  family  newspaper.  It  would 
be  desirable  if  her  professional  brethren,  even  of  modern 
date,  were  half  as  entertaining. 

Notwithstanding  her  vivacious  style,  she  was  only  then 
convalescent  from  a  most  dangerous  illness,  of  the  pleuritic 
kind,  to  which  she  was  subject.  Mr  Secretary,''  she 
begins,  "  I  am  very  glad  to  find  that  you  are  safely  arrived 
with  all  your  company  at  Aix,  and  that  you  found  the  King 
[Charles  II.],  and  my  niece  [Mary  Princess  of  Orange]  so 
well  in  health,  and  so  kind  one  to  the  other,  which  has  ever 
been  so  since  I  have  known  them.  I  believe,  indeed,  the 
separation  will  be  hard;  but  when  there  is  no  remedy,  one 
must  be  content.  As  for  my  journey  uphill,  I  cannot  tell 
what  to  say  to  it.  Sir  Charles  Cottrel  will  inform  you  how 
it  goes  but  slowly  on,  and,  which  is  stranger,  it  is  not  my 
fault."  ^  She  here  alludes  to  the  illness  which  had  but 
recently  nearly  deprived  her  of  life.  Sir  Charles  Cottrel 
w^as  the  ex-Master  of  the  Ceremonies  to  Charles  I.,  for 
whom  she  had  found  a  corner  and  sustenance  in  her 
poverty-stricken  household,  out  of  loving  remembrance  for 
faithful  personal  service  to  that  beloved  brother.  More- 
over, she  employed  him,  as  we  have  seen,  in  confidential 

1  Appendix  vol.  to  Evelyn's  Diary.  According  to  his  endorsement,  Sir 
Edward  Nicolas  received  her  first  letter  Aug.  31,  1654,  soon  after  his 
arrival  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 


228 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


embassies  to  her  perverse  son,  and  in  all  her  foreign  affairs. 
Charles  11.  afterwards  restored  him  to  his  brilliant  office 
at  court. 

Elizabeth  was  extremely  curious  regarding  Christina  of 
Sweden,  who  had,  against  the  wishes  of  her  subjects,  abdi- 
cated her  throne  the  same  year,  and  was  the  heroine  of 
Europe — the  observed  of  all  observers.  Strange  to  say,  the 
Queen  of  Bohemia  never  had  any  personal  communication 
with  the  only  child  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  although  oft- 
times  dwelling  in  the  same  city  with  her.  One  of  Charles 
T.'s  exiled  Church  of  England  chaplains,  Dr  Morley,  how- 
ever, described  her  to  Elizabeth,  who  proceeds  to  say  :  The 
Queen  of  Sweden  gave  an  assignation  to  the  French  Am- 
bassador, to  meet  her  at  Breda,  whither  he  went ;  and  so 
did  the  Prince  de  Tarente,^  and  so  did  the  Princess  de  Tar- 
ente  ;^  but  the  Prince  and  Princess,  and  most  of  our  French 
gallants  who  went  with  them,  all  came  sneaking  home  again. 
For  the  Queen  of  Sweden's  grief  was  so  great  for  the  beat- 
ing of  the  Spanish  army  before  Arras,  that  she  would  not  go 
to  Breda.  She  sent  another  account  to  the  French  Ambas- 
sador, as  you  may  imagine  ;  but  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse- 
Cassel  wrote  the  truth  to  his  niece,  the  Princess  of  Tarente. 
We  have  yet  no  particulars  here  of  this  defeat ;  but  in 
general  it  is  reported  a  very  great  one.  I  long  to  hear 
what  part  my  godson  had  in  it,  for  I  still  think  of  him 
being  my  chiefest  comfort,  next  to  your  excellent  master.'' 
The  godson,  whom  she  often  mentions  by  the  pet  name 
of  "  Tint,"  was  her  favourite  nephew,  James  Duke  of 
York,  who  had  wonderfully  distinguished  himself  in  this 
action.  "  I  am  very  glad  your  daughter,  Lady  Browne,^ 
is  so  well.  I  do  not  wonder  at  it,  she  is  so  well  used 
by  her  husband  [Sir  Richard  Browne]  ;  and  now  she 
has  her  father  with  her,  she  is  the  more  content,  and  I 
take  it  very  well  that  all  this  does  not  make  her  forget  her 
friends  here.    I  assure  you  I  long  to  have  her  here  again. 

^  Henry  Charles  de  la  Tresnouille,  commander  of  the  Hessian  cavalry 
hired  by  the  Dutch. 

2  Amelia,  wife  of  the  above,  and  daughter  of  William,  Landgrave  of 
Hosse-Cassel. 

^  Mother  of  John  Evelyn's  wife,  daughter  to  Sir  Edward  Nicolas. 


ELIZABETH  STUATIT. 


229 


I  am  very  sorry  for  poor  Killigrew ;  she  was  a  very  good 
gentlewoman."  ^ 

While  the  young  widow,  Mary  Princess  of  Orange,  was 
amusing  herself  at  Aix-Ia-Chapelle  with  her  gay  brother, 
Charles  IL,  an  accident  had  like  to  have  changed  the  whole 
course  of  history,  by  demolishing  the  future  elective  King  of 
Great  Britain,  William  III.,  in  his  infancy.  Elizabeth  of 
Bohemia,  who  was  partly  left  in  charge  of  the  boy,  had,  in 
this  her  first  despatch,  communicated  the  narrow  escape 
thus  :  You  will  hear,  by  Mistress  Howard,  how  great  a 
scrape  my  little  nephew  escaped  yesterday  upon  the  bridge, 
by  the  Princess  of  Orange's  horse/'  This  was  Amelia  de 
Solms,  the  grandmother  of  the  child.  God  be  thanked 
there  was  no  hurt,  only  the  coach  broken.  I  took  him  into 
my  coach,  and  brought  him  home.  The  [elder]  Princess  of 
Orange  went  from  hence  on  Saturday,  and  you  will  have 
our  baron  shortly  with  you  at  Aix.  He  will  tell  you  the 
second  part  of  the  Queen  of  Sweden,  for  he  comes  from  her 
to  your  court.  To-morrow  I  believe  I  shall  go  a-shooting, 
which  I  have  not  done  since  you  went.  I  am  very  glad  you 
are  established  in  your  place,  which  you  deserve  so  well.  I 

*  Kate  Killigrew  had  served  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  and  her  niece  the 
Princess  of  Orange^  for  eight  years.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Lady  Stafford, 
by  a  first  marriage.  She  died  of  the  small-pox,  in  the  service  of  the  Prin- 
cess of  Orange.  Pier  place  was  filled  by  the  celebrated  Anne  Hyde.  Kate 
Killigrew  had  been  warmly  recommended  to  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  by  her 
son,  Charles  Louis,  when  he  was  the  guest  of  Queen  Henrietta  Maria  at 
Hampton  Court.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  daughters  of  the  House  of 
Killigrew  were  celebrated  for  their  learning,  genius,  and  purity  of  life, 
besides  their  beauty ;  while  the  sons,  corrupt  and  dishonourable,  were  the 
disgrace  of  their  century.  "  Thou  youngest  virgin  daughter  of  the  skies/' 
is  the  commencement  of  Dryden's  immortal  ode  on  the  death  of  the  poetess, 
Anne  Killigrew,  younger  sister  of  Kate,  mentioned  by  the  Queen  of  Bo- 
hemia. As  for  the  brother,  Tom  Killigrew,  who  is  usually  supposed  to 
have  been  a  professional  buffoon,  or  court  jester,  and  the  last  of  those  func- 
tionaries at  the  English  Court,  he  was  by  birth  a  gentleman,  and  by  profes- 
sion, author,  soldier,  courtier,  and  cavalier  ;  for  all  that,  he  was  hete  et  non 
bon  hete,  being  so  foul  in  conduct,  works,  and  conversation,  that  he  is  posi- 
tively not  fit  to  be  mentioned.  Nor  should  he  be  so,  but  for  drawing  the 
contrast  between  him  as  a  human  being,  and  the  qualities  of  his  lady  rela- 
tives. There  was  another  Killigrew,  Henry  by  name,  who  was  not  good 
enough  for  the  Elector,  Charles  Louis,  himself  nowise  particular,  at  least 
regarding  his  own  moral  conduct.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  the  Queen  of 
Bohemia,  he  says  of  him,  He  will  never  leave  lying  as  long  as  his  tongue 
can  wag."  The  Killigrew  family  can  be  traced  nested  in  the  English  Court, 
like  mites  in  a  cheese,  from  the  days,  at  least,  of  Henry  VIII. 


230 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


am  sorrj  for  my  Lord  Wentworth's  sickness  ;  pray  let  him 
know  so  from  me,  and  remember  me  to  Mr  Chancellor 
Hyde/^ 

The  next  news-letter  from  Elizabeth  was  sent  to  the 
royal  party  at  AIx,  just  one  week  afterwards.  She  re- 
joices at  the  fame  of  her  dear  godson  Tint,  and  the  laurels 
he  had  won  before  Arras.  The  Queen  of  Sweden/'  she 
continues,^  "  Is  yet  at  Antwerp.  We  look  every  day  to  see 
the  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel  here,  and  by  him  I  shall 
know  what  she  will  do.  Dr  Morley  has  a  letter  of  the  dis- 
covery of  a  new  treason  in  London  of  the  levellers  against 
his  precious  Highness  [Oliver  Cromwell].  Our  Baron  has 
sent  for  his  man,  Smith,  to  meet  him,  God  knows  where, 
for  I  do  not.  I  beheve  you  will  have  him  at  Aix,  for  he  Is  the 
direct  wandering  Jew.  I  hear  Mrs  Anne  Hyde  Is  to  come 
to  my  niece,  Mary  Princess  of  Orange,  in  poor  Mrs  Killl- 
grew's  place,  which  I  am  very  glad  of  She  Is  very  fit  for 
it,  and  is  a  great  favourite  of  mine.  Pray  let  my  Lord 
Wentworth  know  I  am  extreme  glad  he  is  of  the  King's 
council.  Being  so  much  his  friend  as  I  am,  I  cannot*but 
wish  him  much  joy  of  it.'' 

I  hope,  before  this  comes  to  you,"  the  Queen  continues, 
in  her  news-letter  of  the  next  week,^  you  will  receive  a 
packet,  which  came  from  Rotterdam,  and  which  ould  Will 
Kepley  carries  himself  to  Aix.  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  hear 
what  news  he  brings,  because  here  is  again  news  of 
Monk's  ^  being  beaten,  which  a  man  at  Middleton  writes 
to  Strachen  from  Stranaven,  or  some  such  name,  and  that 
all  long  for  the  King.  Stone  Is  at  last  here.  He  says  that 
Cromwell  will  be  now  either  King  or  Emperor.  I  wish  him 
the  latter.  He  has  heard  nothing  of  Bamfield,  but  I  easily 
believe  he  is  honest  enough  to  be  well  used  by  Cromwell. 
This  day  the  Assembly  of  Holland  wrote  to  the  States- 
General  that  Sir  George  Fleetwood,  brother  to  him  that  is 
Lieutenant  of  L^eland,  told  him  that  he  knew  Cromwell  had 
said  '  he  would  keep  the  peace  with  the  Dutch  no  longer 

^  Appendix  volume  of  Evelyn's  Diary — from  the  Hague,  Sept.  7,  1G54. 
y  Ibid.    Dated  Sept.  15,  16.54. 
Then  a  Parliamentary  general,  serving  in  Scotland. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


231 


than  he  found  it  good  for  his  interests,  and  would  break 
with  them  the  first  occasion  that  he  can,  for  the  good 
of  his  designs.'  In  Holland  they  are  angry  at  the 
agent  for  writing  this ;  those  that  have  seen  the  letter 
told  it  me/' 

The  subject  was,  as  might  be  expected,  interesting  enough 
to  the  royal  family  for  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  to  refer  to  it 
again  in  her  next  week's  news-letter.^  "  Some,  in  a  ship 
come  out  of  England,  say  that  the  mock  Parliament  begin 
to  dispute  their  privileges  with  Cromwell,  but  I  fear  they 
will  too  well  agree.  I  am  very  glad  the  King  [Charles  II.] 
used  Prince  William  [of  Nassau  Friesland]  and  his  lady^ 
so  well.''  Charles  II.  was  at  this  time  truly  desirous  of 
marrying  the  other  sister,  Henrietta  of  Orange.  It  was 
a  great  misfortune  that  he  did  not ;  but  he  was  circumvented 
by  the  worldly  wisdom  of  her  mother,  whom  he  never  for- 
gave. 

The  Princess  Louisa  Palatine,  the  accomplished  daughter 
of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  was  then  painting  a  portrait 
of  their  friend,  Amelia  of  Hesse,  Princess  of  Tarente.  The 
Queen  adds  to  her  letter :  It  is  now  very  fair  w^eather. 
When  the  Princess  of  Tarente's  picture  is  ended  by  Louye, 
which  will  be  this  day,  then  I  may  chance  go  a-shooting, 
which  I  have  not  done  since  you  went.  I  pray  deliver  this 
you  will  find  enclosed  to  the  King  [Charles  II.]  with  my 
humble  service.  I  pray  let  me  know  if  the  Queen  of  Swe- 
den did  write  to  King  Charles,  and  whether  she  did  it  civilly 
or  not.  Sure  Dick  Harding  is  grown  a  fish  in  his  baths,^ 
for  he  is  as  mute  as  one.  Tell  him  so  from  me  !  I  think 
the  King  had  better  stay  where  he  is,  than  go  to  Cologne. 
He  will  not  be  so  much  at  his  leisure  there  as  at  Aix.  Those 
of  Cologne  are  odd  people  ;  so  I  am  of  your  opinion." 

The  Queen  of  Bohemia  in  her  next  letter  announces  that 
she  had  heard  of  the  intended  return  of  the  Princess  of 
Orange.  "  I  am  very  glad,"  she  says,  I  shall  see  my 
niece  so  soon.    Dr  Morley  will  write  '  what  he  learns  out 

^  Appendix  volume  of  Evelyn's  Diary.    Sept.  21. 

*  Daughter  of  the  Stadtholder,  Frederic  Prince  of  Orange. 

3  He  was  a  clergyman,  and  was  with  the  royal  party  at  the  baths  of  Aix.  , 


232 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


of  England  of  Cromweirs  dissolving  his  Parliament  for 
being  so  imgraclous  as  not  to  do  what  he  would  have 
them the  news  was  confirmed  to  me  last  night  by  one  of 
the  States-General,  but  it  was  so  late  I  could  not  hear  the 
particulars.  The  same  State  [deputy]  told  me  there  was 
a  speech  of  part  of  the  Orange-and-red  men  In  rebellion 
against  his  precious  Highness.  I  pray  tell  your  daughter 
[Lady  Browne]  all  this,  for  I  had  sealed  my  letter  to  her 
before  I  had  the  certainty  of  the  news.  I  am  very  glad 
the  King  [Charles  11.]  resolves  to  stay  at  Alx ;  it  is  much 
better  than  Cologne.  I  hear  there  is  one,  who  heretofore 
served  my  Lord  of  Brentford,^  packed  from  Scotland  to  the 
King  but  three  days  agone,  and  came  from  thence  but  six 
days  before ;  he  would  tell  no  news,  but  made  haste  away. 
Soon  as  he  went,  reached  [arrived]  here  one  Thomson,  one 
I  have  seen  before.  He  tells  all  the  particulars  of  the 
defeat  that  is  so  much  bragged  of,  '  that  they  were  dis- 
persed upon  it ;  but  it  is  five  weeks  since  he  came  from 
thence,  being  come  through  England  by  his  country  the 
Borders  [of  Scotland],  where,  in  his  passage,  he  met  with 
a  party  by  whom  he  was  hurt  and  lamed;"  but,  for  all 
that,  he  is  gone  to  the  King." 

The  obscure  action  she  mentions  was  a  skirmish  between 
some  of  Cromwell's  troops  in  Scotland  and  some  roving 
bands  of  Scotch  irregulars  who  took  kane  in  the  king's 
name''  on  brae  and  border,  and  wheresoever  they  could 
levy  it,  probably  for  their  private  emolument.  "  He  much, 
complains,"^  continues  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  ''of  divisions 
among  them,  and  not  of  Sir  George  Monro.  I  do  admire 
how  people  could  tell  so  great  a  lie  as  the  Pasquet ;  but  it 
is  very  common  among  my  countrymen."  Now,  whether 
she  means  by  her  "  countrymen"  English,  Scotch,  or  Dutch, 
and  whether  the    Pasquet  "  thus  given  to  figments  regard- 

^  Patrick  Ruthven,  Lord  Brentford  in  England,  Earl  of  Forth  in  Scot- 
land, had  been  a  General  in  the  roydX  forces,  but  was  dead  at  this  time. 
He  bore  a  strange  character  as  a  necromancer,  having  studied  the  black 
art  in  the  Tower,  with  his  fellow-captive  the  Earl  of  Northumberland. — 
See  Lill3''s  Life  and  Times. 

^  Evelyn's  Memoirs,  Appendix  volume— Letter  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia 
written  Sept.  29,  Hague,  1654. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


233 


ing  news  was  a  gazette  or  a  ship,  is  a  riddle  she  has  left  no 
means  of  solving,  for  Ijlng  in  all  its  branches  was  unfor- 
tunately no  distinctive  feature  in  matters  political  of  either 
land. 

"  Lady  Mohun  is  here ;  she  has  fled  from  England, 
fearing  to  be  imprisoned  by  Cromwell.  She  is  very  good 
company,  talks  very  freely,  but  handsomely  [with  pro- 
priety]. My  Lady  Herbert  is  also  here  since  Sunday  last. 
I  have  had  yet  no  time  to  ask  her  anything,  not  having 
seen  her  since  Sunday.  Tom  Dolman  is  here,  and  desires 
leave  to  see  me,  which  I  have  put  off  till  I  know  the  King's 
[Charles  II/s]  pleasure.  [As  he  has]  so  openly  owned  the 
setting  forward  of  the  treaty,  I  will  not  see  him  with- 
out the  King's  approbation.  I  have  writ  thus  to  your 
daughter/'  Lady  Browne,  being  the  wife  of  the  Cavalier 
Sir  Richard  Browne,  ambassador  of  Charles  I.,  and  then 
of  Charles  IL,  to  the  French  court,  was,  as  most  clever 
ambassadresses  are,  deep  in  the  plots  and  plans  of  her 
kindred  diplomats.  A  very  remarkable  correspondence 
seems  going  on  between  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  and  Lady 
Browne,  without  doubt  replete  with  tbe  lively  talents  of 
both  these  illustrious  ladles.  It  is  very  unlikely  that  it 
should  have  been  destroyed,  and  is  probably  at  this  moment 
safely  reposing  in  the  charter-chest  of  the  house  of  Evelyn. 

I  desire,"  resumes  the  Queen,  that  you  both  know  the 
King's  pleasure  in  it.  I  entreat  you,  besides,  to  remember 
ray  humble  service  to  him,  and  keep  me  still  in  his  good 
opinion."  She  adds,  "  1  bragged  too  soon  of  shooting,  for, 
since  I  wrote,  the  weather  has  not  served." 

The  negotiation  for  her  daughter  Sophia's  marriage  with 
Prince  Adolph,  the  brother  of  Charles  Gustavus,  King  of 
Sweden,  intervened  at  this  date ;  and  one  of  this  series  of 
her  letters ■'^  is  her  official  request  of  Charles  IL's  consent, 
which  he  courteously  granted,  although  his  cousin  would 
have  been  married  by  it  into  the  family  of  one  of  his  greatest 
political  enemies.  Notwithstanding  his  aunt's  advice  to 
fix  his  headquarters  at  Alx-la-Chapelle,  and  not  at  Cologne, 

^  See  the  succeeding  Biography  of  her  daughter,  Sophia  of  Hanover. 
The  marriage  with  Adolph  of  Deuxponts  never  took  place. 


234 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Charles  II.  found  the  gay  watering-place  of  Europe  far  too 
expensive  for  his  slender  means. 

In  the  Queen  of  Bohemia's  next  despatch,  dated  October 
19th,  she  says  to  the  royal  secretary :  Hearing  you  may 
chance  to  stay  all  this  week  at  Cologne,  I  send  you  this  en- 
closure for  the  King  [Charles  11. ]  to  give  him  humble  thanks 
for  his  approbation  of  Sophia's  marriage.  You  will  have 
understood  by  Curtius  all  the  news  of  Germany,  as  he  is 
gone  to  wait  upon  the  King.  You  will  find  by  the  English 
prints  that  they  are  forbidden  to  write  anything  of  the 
proceedings  of  their  mock  parliament."  Such  was  a  small 
specimen  of  English  freedom,  parliamentary  and  popular, 
under  the  government  of  Cromwell,  and  one,  perhaps, 
among  other  reasons,  for  desiring  to  raise  him  a  statue  for 
general  adoration  within  the  walls  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
The  Queen  wrote  the  truth,  but  not  the  whole  truth,  con- 
cerning the  chains  with  which  this  revolutionary  despot 
fettered  the  press  of  his  country. 

There  had  been  a  dreadful  explosion  of  gunpowder  at 
Delft.  The  Queen  of  Bohemia  went,  as  all  the  world  did, 
to  see  the  mischief  after  it  was  done.  I  was  at  Delft/' 
she  continues,  to  see  the  wrack  that  was  made  by  the 
blowing-up  of  the  powder  this  day  sevennight.  It  Is  a  sad 
sight ;  whole  streets  quite  razed,  and  not  one  stone  left  on 
another.  It  is  not  yet  known  how  many  persons  are  lost ; 
there  is  scarce[ly]  any  house  in  town  but  the  tiles  are  off." 
Then  occurs  a  great  blot  on  her  paper;  she  proceeds  to 
explain  that  her  monkey  Apollo  had  committed  this  male- 
faction. Apollo,  with  leaping  into  my  lap,  has  made  this 
blot.  Tom  Killigrew  is  here,  who  makes  a  rare  relation 
of  the  Queen  of  Sweden.  It  is  very  cold,  which  I  hope 
w^ill  diminish  the  plague.  I  am  extreme  glad  that  the 
King  is  satisfied  with  Rupert's  letter,  and  has  answered 
him  so  kindly.  I  pray  do  poor  Curtius  all  the  favour  you 
can.''  He  was  one  of  her  old  diplomatic  retainers,  and  had 
often  acted  as  envoy  between  Charles  I.,  her  husband,  and 
herself 

The  Princess  of  Orange  having  now  returned  to  her 
palace  of  Tiding,  her  royal  aunt  Elizabeth  went  to  meet 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


235 


her,  and  celebrate  her  birthday.  "  She  is,"  observes  Eliza- 
beth, "  in  much  trouble  for  her  dear  brother  of  Gloucester."^ 
It  had  been  not  many  months  since  they  had  welcomed  this 
beloved  boy  from  his  long  captivity  in  England  at  Breda 
and  Tiding.  He  had  won  their  hearts  by  his  sincere  and 
pleasant  temper;  and  though  all  observed  a  sort  of  uncouth- 
ness  which  he  had  contracted,  they  assured  one  another  that 
he  would  soon  polish  up  into  an  elegant  young  cavalier.  He 
proceeded  to  Paris  for  the  course  of  education  there,  assisted 
by  his  tutor,  the  Reverend  Mr  Lovel,  a  clergyman  of  the 
persecuted  Church  of  England.  The  attempts  of  his  mother, 
Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  to  force  him  into  the  profession 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  are  well  known.  The  news 
of  his  distress,  in  consequence,  filled  the  hearts  of  his  relatives 
in  the  Low  Countries  with  sorrow  and  indignation  ;  and 
various  are  the  notices  which  occur  concerning  young 
Gloucester  in  these  letters  of  his  aunt.  I  am  sorry  the 
King  [Charles  IL]  has  so  much  cause  of  grief,"  she  con- 
tinues. I  beseech  that  God  may  speedily  remedy  it.  I 
believe  my  dear  nephew  Gloucester  has  good  resolution, 
but  there  is  no  trusting  to  one  of  his  tender  age.  I  confess 
I  did  not  think  the  Queen  [his  mother]  would  have  pro- 
ceeded thus.  All  is  kept  here  very  secret  that  Prince 
Will  [of  Nassau-Dietz]  doth  in  Overezel;  but  I  am  told 
all  goes  well,  and  that  Deventer,  which  was  the  town  most 
against,  will  do  well,  as  also  Rupert  — not  her  son,  but 
some  person  concerned  in  the  Dutch  politics  of  De  Witt 
against  Orange,  which  is  the  subject  of  her  discussion — 
who  was  of  the  other  faction.  I  send  a  letter  for  the  best 
of  kings  " — that  being  her  serious  opinion  of  her  nephew, 
Charles  IL  ;  'tis  about  Tom  Killigrew's  business.  I  pray 
remember  me  to  Mr  Chancellor  Hyde,  and  tell  him  that 
his  lady  and  my  favourite,  his  daughter  " — meaning  Anne 
Hyde — came  hither  this  Saturday,  and  are  gone  this  day 
to  Tiding,"  being  for  the  purpose  of  inducting  Anne  Hyde 
in  her  place  as  maid-of-honour  to  the  Princess  of  Orange, 
Charles  H.'s  sister.    ''I  find  my  favourite'' — and  by  this 

^  Evelyn's  Memoirs,  Appendix  volume — Letter  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia, 
Nov.  16,  1654. 


236 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


endearing  term  Elizabeth  always  designates  Anne  Hyde — 

is  grown  every  way  to  her  advantage." 

The  Princess  of  HohenzoUern,  in  the  latter  end  of  No- 
vember, invited  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  to  bear  her  com- 
pany in  a  tour  from  Bergen  to  Antwerp  and  Brussels.  It 
was  in  the  course  of  this  pleasure-trip  that  they  meant  to 
satisfy  their  curiosity  concerning  Christina  of  Sweden,  of 
whom  Tom  Killigrew  had  given  such  extraordinary  notices, 
no  doubt  in  his  peculiar  way.  When  on  the  throne  ot 
Sweden,  Queen  Christina  had  behaved  most  inimically  to 
Charles  I.,  and  had  been  ungenerous  enough  to  use  re- 
viling words  on  his  dire  misfortunes  —  outrages  which 
Elizabeth  declared  "  she  would  never  forgive.''  Christina 
Imd  treated  with  scorn  the  proposal,  made  through  Des- 
cartes, of  giving  an  asylum  to  Elizabeth's  eldest  daughter 
when  the  family  were  in  the  utmost  distress,  and  the 
young  Elizabeth  was  peculiarly  uneasy  at  home.  Des- 
cartes had  been  greatly  hurt  by  the  levity  and  inso- 
lence with  which  the  then  prosperous  Queen  of  Sweden 
spoke  of  the  Palatine  family.  He  died  at  Stockholm  of 
the  severe  change  of  climate,  soon  after  his  acceptance  of 
Christina's  invitation :  and  this  old  friend  of  Elizabeth,  it 
was  reported,  had  not  been  kindly  treated  by  his  northern 
patroness.  It  was  guessed  that  Christina  meant  to  traverse 
the  pending  marriage  of  Elizabeth's  youngest  daughter 
Sophia  with  Adolphus  the  brother  of  the  King  of  Sweden, 
Charles  Gustavus,  in  whose  favour  Christina  had  lately 
abdicated. 

All  these  causes  operated  in  influencing  Elizabeth's  pen, 
when  writing  her  opinion  of  the  Swedish  heroine.  Yet 
angry  as  she  was,  her  natural  candour  led  her  to  say  on  the 
sight  of  her,  She  is  extravagant  in  her  fashion  and  apparel, 
but  she  has  a  good  well-favoured  face  and  a  mild  counten- 
ance." Tom  Killigrew  had  described  Christina  as  grotesque 
and  hideous.  The  two  queens  were  pointed  out  to  each 
other,  when  they  were  both  at  the  theatre  at  Antwerp,  by 
one  of  the  players,  who  came  to  the  seat  or  box  of  the  Queen 
of  Bohemia  to  pay  his  respects,  and  learn  her  approbation  of 
his  performance.    The  same  person  informed  Christina  of 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


237 


the  presence  and  whereabouts  of  Elizabeth,  but  no  recog- 
nition passed  between  the  queens.;^  "  I  stayed  but  one  day," 
continues  Elizabeth,  at  Brussels,  where  I  saw  the  Arch- 
duke at  mass,  and  I  saw  his  pictures  and  lodgings.  I 
was  at  Sir  Harry  de  Vic's,2  who  was  very  careful  and 
diligent,  and  did  me  all  the  service  he  could.  I  stayed  but 
Sunday  at  Brussels,  and  returned  to  Antwerp  upon  Monday. 
And  hearing  from  Duart^  how  the  Queen  of  Sweden  had 
desired  to  know  when  I  came  back  to  Antwerp,  '  that 
she  might  meet  me  in  an  indifferent  place,'  I  made  the 
more  haste  away  the  next  day,  because  I  had  no  mind  to 
speak  with  her,  since  I  had  heard  how  unhandsomely  she 
had  spoken  of  the  King  my  dear  brother,  and  of  the  King 
my  dear  nephew,  and,  indeed,  of  all  our  nation.  So  I 
avoided  it,  and  went  away  [from  Antwerp]  as  soon  as  I  had 
dined.  Yet  she  sent  Donoy  to  me  with  a  very  civil  mes- 
sage, '  that  she  was  sorry  she  could  not  use  that  civility  to 
me  as  both  she  should  do  and  desired  [to  do],  hoping  that 
one  day  we  might  meet  together  with  more  freedom.'  I 
answered  her  as  civilly  as  I  could,  and  when  I  came  from 
Bergen  I  gave  Sir  William  Swann  charge  to  make  her  a 
compliment  from  me. 

I  came  hither  to  the  Hague  from  Bergen,  where  I  was 
extremely  *  well  entertained  by  the  Princess  of  Hohen- 
zollern,  who  was  with  me,  and  was  my  guide  all  the  journey, 
and  defrayed  me.''  The  Princess  of  Hohenzollern  bore 
the  expenses  of  her  royal  guest,  a  ceremony  very  needful 
for  all  those  to  do  who  were  desirous  of  the  traveUing  com- 
panionship of  the  impoverished  Queen  of  Bohemia.  The 
Princess  of  Hohenzollern  was  Francisca,  a  descendant  of 
the  eldest  son  of  William  the  Liberator,  the  first  Stadt- 
holder.  The  Dutch,  out  of  gratitude,  had  granted  her 
various  privileges  and  immunities  in  the  town  of  Bergen,  of 

^  Evelyn's  Memoirs,  Appendix  volume — Letter  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia, 
December  3,  1654. 

2  An  old  diplomatic  envoy  of  Charles  I. 

2  This  was  apparently  the  comedian  who  had  acted  as  the  means  of  com- 
munication between  Elizabeth  and  Christina. 

*  Elizabeth  usually  writes  as  her  niece  Mary  II.  did  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury later,  "  extreme  good  "  or  extreme  well.  Yet  she  occasionally  uses 
the  adverb  correctl3^ 


238 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


which  she  was  by  inheritance  the  principal  proprietor.  She 
was  the  wife  of  John  George,  Prince  of  Hohenzollern,  a 
near  relative,  if  not  the  head/  of  the  Electoral  family  of 
Brandenburg.  Francisca,  Princess  of  Hohenzollern,  was  a 
Eoman  Catholic,  as  Elizabeth  soon  afterwards  knew  to 
her  sorrow :  probably  her  religion  was  then  concealed 
on  account  of  the  Dutch  ;  for  the  two  ladies  were  con- 
sidering the  feasibility  of  a  marriage  between  Charles  II. 
and  her  pretty  young  daughter,  to  which  scheme  may 
be  attributed  the  close  intimacy  of  the  Princess  with  his 
aunt.  It  is  not  likely,  however,  that  Elizabeth,  if  she  had 
known  her  religion,  would  have  recommended  a  Eoman 
Catholic  wife  to  her  nephew,  being  fully  aware  that  all  the 
troubles  of  her  beloved  brother  sprang  from  the  same 
source ;  and  even  at  the  present  moment  she  was  not 
devoid  of  anxiety  regarding  the  forced  proselytism  prac- 
tising at  Paris  by  her  Eoman  Catholic  sister-in-law  on  her 
young  nephew,  the  Duke  of  Gloucester.  Yet  she  says  of 
her  friend,  being  quite  aware  Charles  11.  was  to  read  her 
despatch :  Her  daughter  is  now  so  pretty  every  way 
that  you  would  like  her  better  than  ever  you  did  if  you 
saw  her.  She  is  much  grown,  and  is  still  of  a  very  sweet 
disposition,  which  doth  become  her.  She  has  a  great  deal 
of  wit,  and  loves  our  nation  extremely.  It  makes  me 
think  of  your  wish,  which  I  am  not  against,  you  know;"" 
— evidently  alluding,  says  the  editor  of  Evelyn's  Memoirs, 
to  a  plan  of  producing  a  match  between  Charles  II.  and 
the  young  daughter  of  ZoUern,  but  not  very  consistent,  if 
Elizabeth  knew  her  friend  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  with 
what  follows.  "  By  this  post  I  had  very  good  news  of  the 
Duke's  [Gloucester's]  constancy  in  his  religion,  and  of  my 
Lord  of  Ormonde's  handsome  carriage  in  that  business. 
So  as  the  Queen  Henrietta  Maria  saith,  she  will  press  him 
[Gloucester]  no  farther  in  it.  But  I  hope  the  King  [Charles 
II.]  will  not  trust  to  it,  but  get  him  away  from  thence,  which 
will  do  the  King  [Charles  II.]  great  right  [meaning  good]. 
It  is  so  cold  as  I  can  say  no  more." 

^  Memoirs  by  Frederic  the  Great,  King  of  Prussia. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


239 


I  long  to  hear/'  slie  continues  in  lier  next  despatch/ 
"  that  my  sweet  nephew  Gloucester  is  at  Brussels.  My 
niece  [the  Princess  of  Orange]  has  sent  Nick  Armourer  to 
meet  him  there.  I  have  written  to  him,  by  Armourer, 
that  if  the  King  would  permit  him  [Gloucester]  to  take 
this  place  [the  Hague]  and  Tiding  in  his  way  from  Brussels, 
he  would  make  his  sister  and  me  very  glad.  Gloucester 
need  not  make  such  haste  to  see  the  King  [Charles  II.]  at 
Cologne ;  it  is  but  the  other  day  since  he  was  with  him, 
but  it  is  long  since  we  saw  him.  And  I  am  sure  our 
Hogan  Mogans  will  take  no  notice  of  it  if  they  be  not 
asked  the  question,  as  they  were  for  King  Charles's  coming 
to  Breda."  By  this  delightful  name  of  Hogan  Mogans, 
which  was,  indeed,  their  official  title,  Elizabeth  means  the 
members  of  the  government  of  the  United  Provinces.  At 
the  peace  with  Cromwell,  they  had  agreed  not  to  harbour 
Charles  Stuart  or  his  brethren.  So  when  they  came  to 
visit  their  sister  of  Orange,  or  their  loving  aunt  the  Queen 
of  Bohemia,  the  harassed  exiles  were  warned  to  quit  the 
Dutch  territories.  But  a  flying  visit  from  the  boy  Glou- 
cester, whose  firmness  against  his  mother's  persecutions 
had  won  him  great  popularity  in  Protestant  Europe,  might, 
Elizabeth  thought,  be  stolen,  and  that  the  Hogan  Mogans 
would  wink  at  it.  As  to  Breda,  where  the  Stuart  brothers 
often  met,  the  Orange  demesne  of  that  town  was  considered 
to  be  in  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  therefore  there  was  no 
occasion  for  the  Princess  to  ask  leave  of  the  Dutch  authori- 
ties ;  she  could  receive  her  brothers  there  without  their 
licence. 

"  I  have  taken  the  boldness  to  write  the  same  to  King 
Charles  by  my  Lord  Gerard,  who,  I  believe,  will  be  with  you 
as  soon  as  this  letter,  for  he  went  from  thence  on  Saturday 
last.  We  hear  nothing  of  the  rebels'  fleet  hereabouts,  but 
they  say  that  Blake  is  to  join  the  Spanish  fleet  against  the 
Duke  of  Guise." ^    ''The  French  ambassador,''  continues 

1  Evelyn's  Memoirs,  Appendix  volume, — dated  at  the  Hague,  December 
21,  1654. 

2  The  Duke  of  Guise  commanded  the  French  fleet,  though  a  soldier ;  he 
died  soon  after  of  his  wounds  received  at  the  victory  of  Arras. 


240 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Elizabeth,  believes  the  French  treaty  with  Cromwell  as 
good  as  broken  ;  he  is  much  joyed  that  the  meeting  [at  Ant- 
werp] between  the  Queen  of  Sweden  and  the  Prince  of  Conde 
was  to  neither  of  their  content.  For  Conde  desired  to  be  re- 
ceived as  she  received  the  Archduke,  viceroy  for  Spain  in 
the  Spanish  Netherlands,  which  Christina  refused,  saying  she 
had  done  too  much  in  that,  and  would  do  so  no  more.  Yet 
Conde  came  to  see  her  brusquement  d  Vimprovist,  and  did 
nothing  but  rally  her  in  his  talk,  w^hich  put  her  so  out  as 
she  said  almost  not  one  w^ord.  This  was  in  the  morning  ; 
after  dinner  she  sent  to  '  know  if  he  would  see  the  play  at 
night?'  He  said,  'he  would  obey  her,^  but  desired  to 
know  whether  he  should  come  known  with  the  state  of  his 
rank  as  prince  of  the  blood-royal  of  France,  '  or  unknown  ' 
— viz.  incognito.  For  if  he  came  as  Prince  de  Conde, 
he  looked  to  have  chaise  d  bras  as  the  Archduke  had. 
Christina  said,  '  he  had  better  come  unknown  (incognito).' 
So  he  came,  and  she  stood  all  the  play,  rallying  with 
Monsieur  Quito,  the  Prince's  favourite.  The  next  day  the 
Prince  de  Conde  went  to  Brussels ;  neither  of  them  were 
well  satisfied  with  each  other.  My  Lady  Swann  is  here 
within  a  few  days ;  by  her  I  shall  know  more  of  this/'  mean- 
ing the  interview  between  the  celebrated  hero  and  hero- 
ine, the  warHke  Prince  of  Conde  and  Christina  of  the  Ab- 
dication. He  was  doing  penance  at  Brussels  by  exile  for 
the  rebellion  of  the  Fronde  in  France,  which  Christina 
had  encouraged  with  all  her  might — that  is,  with  all  the 
influence  she  could  emit  from  her  far  cold  orbit  when 
she  was  reigning  as  the  Star  of  the  North.  Cond(^  corre- 
sponded with  her  almost  amorously,  and  she  had  excited 
his  turbulence  ;  yet,  when  these  two  admirers  met,  their 
first  proceedings  were  to  squabble  concerning  arm-chairs  ! 
as  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  dryly  describes.  She  proceeds 
to  note  some  of  the  gossip  of  young  Charles  Stuart's  court 
under  a  cloud  at  Cologne;  she  mentions  a  mysterious  transit 
which  her  friend  Sir  Harry  de  Vic  had  made  from  Brussels 
to  Cologne,  not  on  matters  political,  but  affectionate — the 
dry  old  statesman  was  in  love  with  a  fair  damsel  at  Cologne. 
"  Sure  it  is  a  doating  time  ! "  exclaims  the  Queen  of  Bohemia, 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


241 


for  King  Charles"*  ould  ministers  of  state.  I  thank  God 
your  wife  is  yet  alive/  for  fear  you  should  fall  in  love  again. 
I  pray  let  me  know  when  that  wedding  will  be,  for  I  will 
send  you  a  letter  to  Reverend  Dick  Harding  to  bespeak 
him  as  brideman to  Sir  Harry  de  Vic,  whose  going  court- 
ing to  Cologne  had  amazed  her.  Her  monkey  had  made 
an  escapade,  but  had  returned.  She  thus  concludes  her 
lively  epistle :  "  I  thank  you  for  your  congratulation  on 
Apollo's  return ;  you  know  how  great  a  favourite  he  is.  I 
pray  tell  my  Lady  Hyde  I  am  very  glad  she  was  so  wel- 
come at  Cologne.'^ 

A  mysterious  homicide  at  Cologne  was  perplexing  the 
friends  of  the  exiled  Stuarts.  Captain  Manning,  one  of 
Charles  H.'s  suite,  was  discovered  to  be  a  spy  of  Crom- 
welFs.  The  King,  who  meant  to  examine  deliberately  into 
the  accusation,  sent  him  under  restraint  to  a  strong  castle 
near  Cologne  ;  but  one  of  the  King's  attendants,  either 
fearing  Charles's  clemency  for  the  traitor,  or,  which  is  most 
likely,  expecting  discovery  of  his  own  proceedings  in  the 
same  line,  shot  him  dead  at  the  castle-gate  when  he  was 
alighting  from  the  vehicle  in  which  the  King  had  sent 
him.  That  the  cavalier-rising  in  the  west,  under  Pen- 
ruddock,  was  betrayed  by  the  spy  Manning  is  certain, 
as  his  correspondence  appears  among  the  Thurloe  Papers. 
The  assassination  of  Manning  greatly  troubled  Charles, 
who  would  have  been  glad  to  have  examined  him.  The 
Queen  of  Bohemia  thus  alludes  to  this  historical  fact  in  her 
next  despatch  to  Sir  Edward  Nicolas,  then  with  Charles  H. 
at  Cologne  :  ^  Since  you  wrote  yours,  I  understand  that 
that  arch- villain  Manning  has  received  his  just  desert.  I 
wish  all  those  of  his  cabal  with  him.  I  wish  I  might  know 
whom  he  has  accused  on  this  side  of  the  sea,  to  avoid  them, 
but  this  is  only  in  case  you  may  tell  it,  for  I  do  not  desire 

1  Lady  Nicolas,  mother  of  Lady  Browne  the  English  Ambassadress, 
grandmother  of  Mrs  Evelyn,  and  wife  of  Sir  Edward  Nicolas,  to  whom 
this  curious  exhortation  is  addressed  by  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  from  the 
Hague,  December  21,  1654. 

2  Evelyn's  Memoirs,  Appendix  volume — dated  Hague,  December  27 
1654. 


VOL.  VIII. 


Q 


242 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


it  Otherwise :  I  have  curiosity  enough  to  desire  the  rest, 
but  I  will  not  desire  but  as  you  think  fit.  There  is  little 
news  here :  the  King  of  Sweden  has  a  son  born  to  him," 
Charles  Gustavus,  the  near  relative  of  Elizabeth's  husband 
and  children  ;  he  was  the  successor  of  Christina.  It  was 
this  polite  hero  who  said  to  his  consort,  when  she,  presum- 
ing on  the  birth  of  his  heir,  was  offering  some  counsel  on 
affairs  political,  '  Madam,  w^e  took  you  to  give  us  children, 
not  advice/''  He  was  making  a  terrible  onslaught  upon 
Brandenburg,  the  territories  of  his  cousin,  the  Elector 
George  William,  whose  brave  son,  Frederic  William  the 
Great,  soon  after  gave  him  deserved  punishment.  Eliza- 
beth was  related  to  these  belligerents  by  blood  herself,  but 
her  children  were  exceedingly  closely  connected  with  both. 
The  three  families  were  descended  from  the  Jagellons, 
claimants  of  the  hereditary  duchy  of  Lithuania — and  they 
were  all  eagerly  looking  forward  to  election — as  the  last  of 
the  line  reigning  in  Poland,  John  Casimir,  had  no  heirs,  and 
was  disgusted  with  its  sceptre  :  this  was  the  secret  spring 
which  set  the  northern  sovereigns  waging  such  bloody  wars 
together  after  the  "  Thirty  Years'  War." 

Elizabeth  went  to  Tiding  on  a  visit  to  her  niece,  the 
Princess  of  Orange,  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  1654. 
When  she  returned  to  the  Hague,  she  wrote  thus  to 
Cologne:^  ''I  have  letters  from  Brussels  this  morning, 
telling  me  that  my  dear  nephew,  the  Duke  of  Gloucester, 
was  there  the  New  Year's  eve,  the  same  day  I  was  at 
Tiding ;  but  when  he  came  thither,  or  came  from  thence,  I 
know  not.  I  am  extreme  glad  the  King  [Charles  H.]  per- 
mits him  to  see  his  sister  and  me.  I  hope  he  will  suffer 
him  to  stay  some  time  w4th  my  dear  niece  the  Princess  of 
Orange  ;  it  will  be  a  great  contentment  to  her,  and  no  hurt 
to  him  ;  and  as  long  as  there  is  nothing  told  to  the  States  of 
him,  they  will  take  no  notice  of  it;  this  I  know  is  true 
that  is,  as  long  as  the  young  Prince  was  content  to  remain 
incognito.  The  courtship  of  Sir  Henry  de  Vic,  which  had 
amused  her  in  the  preceding  month,  was  not  prospering, 


^  Evelyn's  Memoirs,  Appendix  volume — dated  Hague,  Jan.  4,  1654-5. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


243 


for  tlie  Queen  resumes :  I  am  sorry  for  poor  Sir  Harry 
de  Vic,  as,  let  the  match  break  or  go  on,  it  is  every  way  ill 
for  him.  We  hear  no  certainty  here  how  the  French  treaty 
with  the  rebels  in  England  goes,  whether  it  breaks  or  peace. 
I  am  very  sorry  for  the  Countess  of  Morton's  death.  I 
pity  Sir  Thomas  Berkeley,  but  most  her  children."  The 
Countess  of  Morton  was  the  governess  of  the  young  Hen- 
rietta Stuart,  youngest  daughter  of  Charles  I.  Every  one 
knows  the  particulars  of  her  successful  escape  with  the 
royal  infant.  She  had  left  Paris  some  years  afterwards,  and 
returned  to  England  to  avoid  the  proselytising  spirit  of  her 
queen,  Henrietta,  and  the  affectionate  entreaties  of  her  fair 
pupil,  and  of  the  kind  old  Gamache,  and  neither  were  persons 
to  be  resisted  without  painful  feelings  ;  they  did  not  think 
the  Church  of  England  (as  established  at  the  last  translation 
of  the  Scriptures)  catholic  enough,  but  the  faithful  Lady- 
Morton  knew  it  was.  After  her  marriage  with  Sir  Thomas 
Berkeley,  she  returned  incognita  to  England,  but  in  a  few 
weeks  died  of  a  typhus  fever — perhaps  of  the  plague  that 
the  Queen  mentions  in  one  of  her  letters  of  the  preceding 
autumn.  She  was  vexed  on  her  deathbed  by  polemic 
wrangles,  but  died  in  our  church.^  The  sympathy  ex- 
pressed by  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  was  natural  enough ; 
they  were  co-religionists  and  early  acquaintances. 

Elizabeth  returns  to  Christina,  and  has  a  fling  at  her  of 
dry  satire.  "  The  Queen  of  Sweden  is  now  at  Brussels, 
where  she  was  received  in  great  state.  I  believe  the  Arch- 
duke wisheth  her  at  Antwerp  again,  for  she  persecutes 
him  verie  close  with  her  company,  for  you  know  he  is  a 
verie  modest  man.  I  have  written  the  King  [Charles  II.] 
some  particulars  of  it,  which  are  rare  ones'' — namely,  of 
Christina's  persecutions  of  the  modest  viceroy  of  the 
Spanish  Netherlands.  To  do  Elizabeth  justice,  no  letter 
from  her  pen  ever  sins  against  propriety ;  or,  to  use  her 
own  phraseology,  is  "  unhandsome.''  The  rest  of  her  de- 
spatch is  filled  with  particulars  respecting  the  quarrels  of  the 
descendants  of  the  Jagellons,  the  kings  of  Sweden  and  Poland, 


1  MSS.  of  Pere  Gamache. 


244 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


and  the  intention  of  the  Muscovite  Czar  to  come  and  de- 
vour them  when  weakened  with  contending.  The  King  ot 
Poland,  John  Oasimir,  she  had  heard,  meant  to  send  his 
agent  to  Cromwell  to  ask  for  ships  to  make  a  diversion 
against  the  Muscovite.  "  So  good  an  agent  is  very  unwilling 
to  go/'  she  observes,  "but  he  must  obey  his  master.^  Sure 
Cromwell  is  the  Beast  in  the  Revelation  that  all  kings  and 
nations  do  worship !  I  wish  him  a  like  end,  and  speedily  V 
Among  her  other  energetic  qualities,  our  Elizabeth  was  a 
good  hater,  and,  notwithstanding  the  touch  of  comedy  in 
this  explosion  of  her  wrath  against  the  enemy  of  her  house, 
her  heart  went  with  her  aspiration. 

Mr  Secretary,"  she  says  in  her  next  letter,^  I  be- 
lieve you  will  hear  at  Cologne  how  debauched  [dissipat- 
ed] I  have  been  this  last  week,  in  sitting  up  late  to  see 
dancing.  We  made  Friday  out,  and  every  night,  which 
lasted  till  Saturday,  till  five  o^clock  in  the  morning,  and 
yesterday  w^as  the  christening  of  Prince  Will's  child  [Wil- 
liam of  Nassau-Dietz].  I  was  at  the  supper;  my  niece, 
Mary  Princess  of  Orange,  the  little  Prince  [then  four  years 
old,  afterwards  William  III.],  the  Princess-Dowager,  his 
grandmother,  of  Orange,  and  Prince  Maurice,  were  gossips. 
The  States-General  and  the  Council  of  State,  and  myself 
and  Louise,  were  there  as  guests.  After  supper,  was  danc- 
ing till  three  o'clock.  My  little  nephew  was  at  the  supper, 
and  sat  verie  still.  Those  States  [the  Orange  deputies] 
that  were  there  were  much  taken  with  him.  The  King 
of  Sweden  with  his  army  is  within  an  hour's  march  of 
Konigsberg,  with  twenty  thousand  men,  mostly  horse. 
The  Elector  is  in  the  town,  and  has  also  twenty  thousand 
men."  This  passage  indicates  the  terrible  strife  raging 
between  Charles  Gustavus  King  of  Sweden,  and  his  relative 
the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  in  the  heart  of  whose  domin- 
ions the  warlike  Swede  was  then  doing  battle.  Cromwell 
affected  to  interfere  with  a  religious  protest  against  the 
horrors  of  war,  and  the  inordinate  ambition  of  his  friend 
the  King  of  Sweden,  in  godly  meekness  wondering  that 

^  She  alludes  to  De  Brd,  the  Polish  minister  resident  at  the  Hngue. 
2  Evelyn's  Memoirs,  &c. — dated  Hague,  January  10,  1654-5. 


ELIZABETH  STUAllT. 


245 


men  took  such  pains  to  reign !  Elizabeth,  exasperated  at 
tliis  cant,  exclaims  against  Cromwell, — Good  man,  he 
took  no  pains  for  it,  nor  had  no  ambition !  There  never 
was  so  great  a  hypocrite ;  I  wish  him  as  ill  a  new-year 
as,  I  thank  you,  you  wish  me  a  good  one ! ^  111  wishes 
are  a  feeble  artillery  ;  they  generally  inspire  contempt. 
But  Elizabeth  always  launches  hers  with  such  comic  viva- 
city, that  one  laughs  reading  her  maledictions.  She  pro- 
bably laughed  when  writing  them. 

The  Princess  of  Orange,  her  niece,  was  her  guest  at  the 
Hague  during  the  festival  of  the  Epiphany,  particulars  of 
which  she  interweaves  with  the  fates  of  contending  na- 
tions. "  My  dear  niece,''  she  resumes,  "  continues  her  in- 
tention of  going  from  hence  on  Thursday  next,  but  I  doubt 
the  weather  will  hinder  her,  for  it  thaws  apace.  I  have 
written  to  my  nephew,  Charles  II.,  all  the  particulars  of 
what  they  were,  and  who  was  best  dressed.''  The  young 
Duke  of  Gloucester  was  expected,  as  his  sister's  guest, 
every  day.  I  hope  my  next,"  writes  his  loving  aunt,  will 
tell  you  of  my  sweet  nephew's  being  welcome  to  Tiding, 
for  Mr  Lovel  2  assures  us  all  here  that  he  is  perfectly  well. 
I  believe  Mr  Fraser  is  not  sorry  to  have  a  commission  to 
wait  upon  him  this  way,  for  so  he  may  see  his  mistress, 
though  she  will  not  confess  him  so."  Fraser  was  one  of 
the  young  Duke's  gentlemen,  so  far  is  evident,  and  he  had 
showed  himself  taken  with  the  charms  of  some  maid  of 
honour  of  the  courts  of  Bohemia  or  Orange,  name  unknown. 
But  Elizabeth  was  always  delighted  if  she  could  discover 
any  signs  of  dawning  flirtation.  From  some,  however, 
she  obstinately  averted  her  penetrating  regards.  As  to  her 
favourite  Anne  Hyde,  whose  Hebe  beauty  she  so  much 
commends,  she  never  would  believe  in  the  mutual  passion 
of  her  and  her  dear  godson  Tint,"  meaning  her  nephew, 
the  young  Duke  of  York,  whose  early  valour  and  martial 
genius  were  then  filling  all  Europe.  Lord  Craven  rather 
recriminated  afterwards  on  his  illustrious  mistress  that  she 

1  Queen  of  Bohemia  to  Sir  E.  Nicolas — Evelyn's  Memoirs,  vol.  ii. 

2  His  tutor.  The  letter  is  dated  Hague,  January  11,  1654-5 — Evelyn's 
Memoirs,,  Appendix  volume. 


246 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


never  would  believe  there  was  anything  in  that  attachment. 
It  must  have  been  beginning  at  this  period,  for  there  are 
few  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia's  letters  which  do  not  men- 
tion her  voung  favourite  Anne  Hyde's  attractions  and  good- 
ness.   L'-It  L  :  1  Dundee,  her  friends  had  no  faults. 

•  The  nc  -  I  writ  you, '  resumes  her  devious  pen,  "  of 
Poland  and  >  :  is  most  true,  and  that  De  Bre  (the 
Polish  agen:  :  .  -  bis  preparations  to  go  for  Eng- 
land.'"' Soon  a::^:  .-^r  ^ad  announced  that  Charles  Gusta- 
Yus  was  hovering  with  an  army  of  the  terrible  Swedish 
cavalry  at  the  gates  of  the  old  Brandenburg  capital,  Kon- 
igsberg,  he  and  the  great  Eiecror"  settled  their  affairs  by 
two  or  three  fearful  pitched  battles,  in  which,  we  are  happy 
to  record,  the  invader  got  well  punished,  and  was  beaten 
back  to  his  Scandinavian  home. 

Elizabeth's  pen,  which  flies  with  equal  facility  from  politics 
to  pleasure,  from  diplomacy  to  dancing,  now  plunges  into 
the  description,  not  of  a  battle,  but  a  ball,  she  had  shared 
in  at  Tiding,  where  she  had  gone  to  visit  her  niece  of 
Orange.  We  had  a  royalty,  though  not  upon  Twelfth 
Xight,  at  Tiding.  It  was  a  masked  ball.  My  niece,  the 
Princess  of  Ora  nge,  was  a  gyp^yj  and  became  her  dress  ex- 
treme well.  Another,  whose  name  has  been  gnawed  by  the 
tooth  of  Time,  who  will  now  and  then  bite  a  hole  in  our  best 
documents,  was  dressed  as  a  North  Holland  boorine. 
Mistress  Anne  Hyde  was  a  shepherdess,  and  I  assure  you  was 
very  handsome  in  it ;  none  but  her  mistress,  the  Princess  of 
Orange,  looked  handsomer  than  she.  I  believe  my  Lady 
Hyde  and  Mr  Chancellor  will  not  he  very  sorry  to  hear  it, 
which  I  pray  you  tell  them  from  n;  c.  The  father  and  mother 
of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  s  blooming  lavourite  were  then  at 
Cologne  with  Charles  H.  Nearly  the  same  costumes  were 
worn  at  this  fancy-ball  of  the  Princess's  at  Tiding,  as  the 
masks  at  the  grand  christening  of  the  Nassau  infant.  The 
<.^>ueen  ofBohemia  says  she  wrote  the  description  of  the  dresses 
to  Charles  U.  Her  letter  is  still  extant :  it  is  in  answer 
to  his  account  of  a  ball  he  had  assisted  at,  given  by  a  hos- 


^  Memoirs  by  Frederic  the  Great 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


247 


pitable  citizen  of  Cologne.  The  Queen  of  Boliemia  will  not 
hear  tliat  it  was  comparable  to  her  masking  and  mumming 
at  the  Hague  or  Tieling.  I  believe  you  had  more  meat 
and  drink  at  Hannibal  Sestades,  yet  I  am  sure  our  fiddles 
were  better,  and  dancers.  Your  sister  the  Princess  of 
Orange  was  very  well  dressed  like  an  amazon  ;  Amelia  of 
Hesse,  Princess  of  Tarente,  like  a  shepherdess  ;  Mademoi- 
selle d'Orange,  a  nymph  ;  they  were  all  very  well  dressed, 
but  I  wished  all  the  night  your  Majesty  had  seen  Vander- 
haus  :  there  never  was  seen  the  like  ;  he  was  a  gypsy,  and 
Anne  Hyde  his  wife.  He  had  pantaloons  close  to  him  of 
red  and  yellow  striped,  with  ruffled  sleeves  ;  he  looked  just 
like  Jock-a-Lent.''  The  last-named  personage  seems  to 
belong  to  Elizabeth's  very  early  remembrances  of  the  Scot- 
tish Mayday  festivals.  It  is  singular  that,  minutely  as  she 
writes  and  describes  at  all  periods  of  her  life,  a  trait  of 
Scotland  or  of  Scottish  memories  can  seldom  be  traced  to 
her  pen.  The  thoughts  of  Mary  Stuart  flew  back  to  Scot- 
land, albeit  not  too  well  treated  there,  with  fond  tenacity, 
w^hether  in  the  splendid  festivities  of  Paris,  or  pining  in 
English  prisons ;  but  her  granddaughter  Elizabeth  Stuart 
forgot  she  was  born  a  Scottish  Princess. 

Among  other  wars,  and  rumour  of  wars,  she  thus  alludes 
to  a  little  one  impending  between  her  son  the  Elector  and 
his  neighbour  :  I  believe  you  have  heard  of  the  quarrel 
between  my  son  and  the  Elector  of  Mentz.  It  may  end  in 
some  ill  business.  It  is  now  so  cold,  and  they  make  such 
a  noise  with  their  bells  and  sleids  [sleighs]  in  the  street  as 
makes  me  end."  The  merry  sleigh-bells  did  not,  however, 
prevent  her  from  writing  a  long  postscript.  I  pray  re- 
member my  service  to  the  King,  and  in  my  name  make  a 
humble  suit  to  him  in  Thorn  Killigrew's  behalf;  it  is  to 
recommend  him  to  Prince  Will  for  Captain  Morgan's  com- 
pany, who  is  dead  ;  it  will  make  him  subsist  till  the  King 
be  able  to  do  for  him,  and  his  wife's  friends  have  put  him 
upon  it.  I  would  not  trouble  his  Majesty  with  a  letter,  since 
you  are  in  the  place.  Thorn  writes  to  the  King  himself 
about  it.  It  will  be  a  great  honour  for  him,  the  King's 
writing,  because  his  wife's  friends  will  by  that  see  his  Ma- 


248 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


jesty's  favour  to  him.''  In  all  this  making  of  interest  for  her 
unworthy  protege  Thorn/'  by  the  mention  of  his  wife's 
friends,  as  if  they  were  Dutch,  it  is  apparent  that  he  was 
one  of  the  Benedicts  whose  bans  were  up. 

Mr  Secretary/'  commences  Elizabeth,  in  her  next  and 
last  letter^  to  Sir  Edward  Nicolas,  my  sweet  nephew, 
young  Gloucester,  is  not  yet  gone  from  Antwerp,  but  I  hope, 
now  the  weather  is  better,  I  shall  see  him  shortly;  for  as  soon 
as  he  comes  to  his  sister's  house,  the  Princess  of  Orange,  at 
Tiding,  I  shall  be  there.  I  hope  it  is  a  good  prophecy  of 
the  Electress  of  Brandenburg's  having  a  son,  but  she  doth 
not  look  to  be  delivered  before  the  end  of  this  month  or  the 
beginning  of  next."  As  usual,  fortune-telHng  had  been  con- 
sulted about  the  future  destiny  of  the  grandchild  of  the 
elder  Princess  of  Orange,  whose  daughter  Louise  had  mar- 
ried the  Great  Elector.  He  had  just  cleared  his  country  of 
the  invading  Swede,  and  deserved  abetter  son  than  he  had, 
for  the  Nassau  alliance  had  brought  crookedness  and  crab- 
bedness  into  the  Brandenburg  family.  To  be  sure,  the 
dower  was  splendid,  but  the  Orange  Electress  died  after 
being  the  mother  of  one  dwarfish  queer  imp,  with  whom  we 
shall  have  some  converse  in  our  next  biography.  The 
letters  out  of  England,"  resumes  the  Queen,  say  that 
Cromwell  is  bringing  his  army  to  London,  and  doubles  his 
guards  ;  plants  cannon  in  many  places  in  London,  and  at 
the  Tower."    This  is  written  to  the  Prince  of  Tarente. 

The  news  was  true  enough,  and  the  despot  thought  he 
should  like  to  have  the  whole  of  the  parks  for  his  private 
use,  so  he  built  Kensington  Barracks,  and  shut  the  populace 
out  of  Hyde  Park,  by  imposing  a  toll  of  sixpence  a-head  on 
all  the  perambulators  therein.  How  would  his  worshippers 
like  to  have  to  pay  it  now  ?  Of  course,  at  the  Restoration 
the  King  threw  open  the  parks,  and  took  off  the  mean  poll- 
tax  on  fresh  air  and  pleasant  walks,  which  the  populace 
enjoy  now,  and  did  before  the  Great  Rebellion  stuck  up 
many  despots  as  heroes  of  freedom.  The  poor  folk  had 
long  enough  discovered  that  they  had  mistaken  their  friends! 
on  which  account  the  cannon  Elizabeth  mentions  were 

^  Appendix  to  Evelyn's  Memoirs — dated  Hague,  Jan.  18,  1654-5. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


249 


placed  in  terrorem  round  and  about  London :  their  sites 
are  pretty  well  known  even  now. 

As  for  the  Archduke/'  resumes  her  pen,  he  may  thank 
God  to  be  rid  of  the  Queen  of  Sweden.  She  is  lodged  at 
the  Count  of  Egraont's  house  in  Brussels,  where  she  stays 
all  winter.  My  Lord  Norwich  has  news  that  the  Archduke 
goes  for  Spain,  and  Don  John  of  Austria  comes  in  his 
place,  and  marrieth  the  Queen  of  Sweden  ;  and  they  are  to 
have  the  Low  Countries  as  the  Archduke  Albert  had,  but  I 
believe  it  not/'^ 

So  ends  the  Queen  of  Bohemia's  series  of  news-letters  for 
the  information  of  the  banished  court  at  Cologne.  Poor  as 
Elizabeth  was,  her  roof  gave  shelter  to  many  a  houseless 
Cavalier  ;  and,  like  her  protege  "  Thom,"'  some  were  sad 
mauvais  sujets.  Nor  were  such  tendencies  confined  to  the 
gentlemen  Royalists  in  difficulties.  The  Queen  of  Bohemia 
had  admitted  in  her  train  a  dame  bearing  the  loyal  name  of 
Grenville.  If  the  sister  of  Sir  Bevis  and  Sir  Eichard  Gren- 
ville,  certes  she  partook  more  of  the  rantipole  qualities  of 
Sir  Richard — wliose  diableries  completely  horrify  Claren- 
don's sense  of  propriety — than  the  preux-chevalier  Sir  Bevis. 
Mistress  Grenville  had,  the  same  winter,  when  out  on  a 
vacation,  been  giving  both  her  tongue  and  conduct  most 
improper  latitudes.  Sir  Charles  Cottrel  and  his  Queen  had 
due  notice  of  the  same  ;  and  when  the  errant  lady  returned, 
were  obliged  to  inform  her  that  she  could  no  longer  remain 
in  the  establishment.  But  the  Grenville,  whether  maid  or 
widow,  was  in  debt,  and  could  not  go.  A  great  disturbance 
took  place  at  Elizabeth's  house,  the  particulars  of  which  she 
writes  to  her  nephew  Charles  IL^  Her  letter  gives  a  pro- 
longed view  of  her  domestic  life,  which  she  has  recently 
dwelt  on.  I  must  trouble  your  Majesty  again  to  let  you 
know  the  suite  of  what  I  wrote  you  the  last  post  concerning 
Mrs  Grenville.  Having  done  all  I  could  to  get  her  friends 
to  help  her  away,  so  that  I  should  not  be  forced  to  do  it 

1  History,  likewise,  knows  it  was  not  true.  Don  John  of  Austria  w\as 
natural  sou  of  Philip  IV.  of  Spain,  who  has  somehow  shared  in  the  heroic 
reputation  of  his  namesake  of  the  preceding  century,  the  natural  son  of 
Charles  V. 

2  Lambeth  MSS.-~from  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  March  2,  1654-5. 


250 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


myself,  which  could  not  but  disgrace  her,  I  could  not  pre- 
vail on  them.  They  answered  that  '  they  would  not  meddle 
with  her  business/  I  seeing  that,  and  not  being  able  any 
longer  to  suffer  her  vaunting,  upon  Tuesday  night  last  I 
made  her  go  out  of  my  house,  in  a  coach,  which  had  order 
to  set  her  down  wheresoever  she  desired  to  be.  I  did  it  at 
night  to  avoid  a  noise,  and  that  they  should  not  say  I  put 
her  into  her  creditors'  hands,  if  I  had  done  it  in  the  day. 
She  went  to  Mistress  Mohun's.  I  thought  to  have  sent  to 
the  Court  of  Holland  about  it,  but  some  of  my  friends  coun- 
selled me  not  to  do  it,  but  to  keep  them  for  help  if  I  had 
need  of  them.  Yesterday  came  to  me  four  gentlemen  of 
Mistress  Grenville's  friends,  who,  in  civil  terms,  expostulated 
with  me  for  putting  her  away  in  that  fashion  ;  saying,  ^  that 
they  had  hindered  forty  English  gentlemen  from  coming  to 
me  that  morning  on  that  matter."  I  assure  your  Majesty 
that  there  are  not  by  half  so  many  of  our  nation  in  this 
town  of  the  Hague.  1  am  confident  they  could  not  have 
five  more  besides  themselves  to  have  done  it.  Those  that 
never  came  further  than  Ned  Wood's  might,  it  may  be,  have 
been  persuaded.  I  answered,  '  that  it  was  their  fault  that 
I  did  it,  since  they  (her  friends)  would  not  help  her  away 
otherwise.  I  had  suffered  her  humours  as  long  as  I  could, 
because  I  do  not  love  to  affront  any,  but  I  could  not  suffer 
always ;  and  since  they  said  they  would  not  meddle  with 
her  affairs,  I  must  be  mistress  in  my  own  house,  and  would 
not  be  braved  there,  (adding)  I  believe  they  would  as  little 
suffer  the  same  of  their  own  servants.'  Mistress  Grenville's 
friends  answered,  '  it  was  a  great  disgrace  for  her  to  be 
sent  out  so,  and  in  the  night ! '  I  answered,  ^  that  I  did  it 
for  the  best,  to  make  the  less  noise.'  They  said  '  it  would 
make  people  believe  that  it  was  for  La  Mere's  letter."'  By 
La  Mere  the  Grenville  party  meant  the  informant  who  had 
let  the  Queen  and  her  comptroller  of  the  household.  Sir 
Charles  Cottrel,  know  of  the  irregularities  of  the  lady  under 
discussion.  "  No,"  answered  her  royal  mistress.  "It  was 
not  for  that  letter,  or  I  should  have  dismissed  her  directly. 
It  was  for  her  unquletness  and  disrespect  to  me.  They 
desired  me,''  she  resumes,     that  I  would  give  Mistress 


ELIZABETH  STUAET. 


251 


Grenville's  creditors  assurance  of  her  debts,  else  she  would 
be  arrested.  I  said  '  I  should  be  sorry  for  it,  but  could  not 
help  it.  Her  creditors  would  not  take  my  word,  for  I  owed 
some  of  them  much  more  than  she  did  ;  besides,  I  could 
never  meddle  with  my  servant's  debts.'  There  passed  more 
discourses,  which  would  be  too  long  to  relate.  At  last  I 
told  them  '  I  should  be  very  glad  if  they  could  find  a  way 
to  content  her  creditors,  so  that  I  were  not  engaged  in  it. 
If  her  creditors  would  ask  me  about  it,  I  should  persuade 
them  to  let  her  alone,  but  I  would  not  be  engaged  for 
her."' 

Genuine  good  sense  and  good  temper  may  be  perceived 
through  the  whole  of  the  Queen's  conduct  in  this  scene, 
from  the  life-interior  of  her  domicile.  She  had  been  annoyed 
and  offended,  but  is  not  revengeful;  though  evidently 
indignant  at  the  allies  of  her  contumacious  servant,  who 
threatened  her  with  being  besieged  by  forty  English  gentle- 
men. I  will  not  name  the  four,"  continues  she  to  her 
nephew  Charles  IL,  your  Majesty  will  hear  of  it  without 
my  naming.  One  is  her  cousin,  the  other  her  countryman  ; 
the  third  was  her  gallant  before  his  matrimony  ;  the  fourth 
is  none  of  these,  but  I  think  came  in  for  company's  sake  to 
make  up  the  four.  As  for  the  forty  Hectors  that  should 
have  come  to  have  terrified  me,  they  did  send  to  my  Lord 
Grandison  and  Colonel  Cromwell  to  have  led  on  the  van  of 
these  most  furious  knights."  Colonel  Cromwell  was  the 
most  devoted  of  cavaliers;  it  was  he  who  had  the  intrepidity 
to  carry  into  his  cousin's  stronghold,  in  the  depths  of  old 
Westminster  Palace,  the  carte  blanche^  that  young  Charles 
had  sent  to  the  revolutionary  despot,  in  hopes  of  saving  his 
beloved  father's  life.  He  was  one  of  Charles  H.'s  gentle- 
men of  the  bedchamber,  and  though  now  disporting  him- 
self at  the  Hague,  generally  guarded  him  most  sedulously,  for 
his  usual  sleeping-place  was  on  a  mattress  across  the  thresh- 
old of  his  royal  master's  door,  a  practice  continued  long 
after  the  Restoration.  The  contrast  between  the  two 
Cromwells  is  deeply  interesting.  Elizabeth  ever  names 
the  loyal  Colonel  with  approbation,  and  usually  with  an 

^  Sir  Henry  Ellis's  Historical  Letters,  to  which  the  fac-simileis  appended. 


252 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


explanatory  notation  that  he  may  not  be  confounded  with 
her  hete  noir  the  "  Protector."  In  this  instance  it  may  be 
learned  that  Lord  Grandison  and  Colonel  Cromwell  very 
handsomely  refused  to  lead  the  van  of  Mistress  Grenville's 
army  of  defiance,  "  saying,"  continues  she,  "  they  would 
not  meddle  with  any  In  that  kind,  that  had  used  me  so  ill. 
I  must  now,  with  great  reason,  beg  your  Majesty's  pardon 
for  this  trouble  ;  it  is  to  let  you  know  the  truth,  if  you  hear 
any  false  reports  of  this.  I  will  always  give  your  Majesty 
an  account  of  my  actions,  there  being  nothing  I  desire  more 
than  to  be  right  In  your  opinion." 

Charles  11.  came  from  his  retirement  at  Cologne,  and 
visited  his  aunt  and  sister  during  the  carnival  at  the 
Hague  1655-56.  They  received  him  with  the  utmost  hospi- 
tality, and,  among  other  diversions,  a  ballet  was  devised  by 
the  Queen  of  Bohemia.  Very  well  danced  it  was,''  she 
says.  Next  Sunday  It  was  made  the  subject  of  pulpit  de- 
nunciation, not  by  the  Dutch  Calvlnlsts — they  had  given  up 
the  Palatine  family  as  incorrigible,  it  may  be  supposed — but 
a  little  lively  French  Protestant  took  up  his  parable  against 
it.  He  said  in  his  sermon,"  records  Elizabeth,  "  that  we 
had  committed  as  great  a  sin  as  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
which  set  all  the  church  a-laughing."l  No  wonder.  It  was 
the  carnival  of  1655  which  occasioned  all  these  gay  doings. 
With  her  niece,  the  Princess  of  Orange,  she  received  masks, 
and  kept  open  house  for  them.  "  The  masks,"  wrote  she, 
"  kept  coming  In  until  five  in  the  morning." 

In  the  summer,  Ehzabeth's  nephew  and  niece,  Charles  II. 
and  Mary  of  Orange,  made  another  merry  assignation  to 
set  off  together  incognito  to  Frankfort  fair.  Then  was 
renewed  the  pleasant  correspondence  which  gives  the 
reader  glances  at  the  genuine  life  of  these  historical  person- 
ages. The  artist-princess  Louisa  had  painted  a  portrait  for 
her  cousin  Charles  II.  of  his  well-loved  sister  Mary.  Her 
mother  forwarded  It  to  Frankfort  with  one  of  her  pleasant 
news-letters,  which  has  not  fallen  Into  biographical  hands. 
Charles  answered  her  in  a  gay  airy  letter,  lately  dug  out  by 
one  of  our  historical  antiquaries.  No  bad  judge  of  art, 
1  Sir  Heury  Ellis's  Historical  Letters — Lambeth  MSS. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


253 


Charles  speaks  of  his  cousin  Louisa's  painting  as  if  he 
cordially  liked  it ;  there  is  nothing  forced  in  his  praises. 
The  easy  style  of  the  letter  proves  the  family  friendship 
subsisting  between  Elizabeth  and  her  brother's  children. 
He  is  all  hilarity  at  the  arrival  of  this  dear  sister ;  and  such 
chattering  is  going  on  in  his  poor  but  cheerful  abode,  that 
lie  can  scarcely  have  a  respite  to  thank  the  dear  aunt  Eliza- 
beth for  her  welcome  present,  saying  that  he  is  writing  from 
his  sister's  chamber,  where  there  was  such  a  noise  that  he 
hardly  hoped  to  end  his  letter  or  write  common  sense.  As 
for  the  Princess  of  Orange's  journey  to  Cologne,  and  the 
accidents  that  befell  her  by  the  way,  I  leave  her,"  he  con- 
tinues, to  give  your  Majesty  an  account  of  them.  I  shall 
only  tell  your  Majesty  that  we  are  now  thinking  how  to  pass 
our  time.  In  the  first  place,  of  dancing,  in  which  we  find 
two  difficulties  ;  one  for  want  of  fiddlers,  and  the  other  for 
somebody  to  teach  and  assist  at  the  dancing  the  new  dances. 
1  have  got  my  sister  [the  Princess  of  Orange]  to  send  for 
Sylvius  as  one  that  is  able  to  perform  both.  As  for  the 
fiddle-de-dees,  my  Lord  Taafe  does  promise  to  be  their 
convoy,  and  in  the  mean  time  we  must  content  ourselves 
with  those  that  make  no  difference  between  a  hymn  and  a 
coranto.^  I  have  now  received  my  sister's  picture  that  my 
dear  cousin,  the  Princess  Louise,  was  pleased  to  draw,  and 
do  desire  your  Majesty  to  thank  her  for  me,  for  'tis  a  most 
excellent  picture ;  which  is  all  said  at  present  by  your 
most  humble  and  most  affectionate  nephew  and  servant, — 
Charles  R."  2 

He  was  too  good-natured  to  inform  his  aunt  of  the  despi- 
cable conduct  of  her  son,  the  Elector  Palatine,  who,  though  he 
had  subsisted  for  a  score  of  years  on  the  bounty  of  Charles  L, 
and  known  the  troubles  of  exile  and  the  loss  of  rank,  yet  he 
himself  now  raised  a  squabble  of  precedence  ;  he,  the  Elector 
of  the  Empire  lately  restored  to  rank  on  good  behaviour, 
with  the  loss  of  half  his  dominions,  could  not  visit  the  exiled 
King  of  Great  Britain  because  his  rank  was  too  high  to  yield 
him  precedence.    And  though  as  lads  they  had  played  and 

1  The  coranto  is  supposed  to  mean  a  waltz. 

2  Ellis's  Original  Letters,  2d  Series,  vol.  iii.  p.  376. 


254 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


sported  together  in  the  Home  Park  at  Hampton  Court 
many  a  time  and  oft,  yet  when  Mary  and  Charles  saw  him 
at  the  Opera  at  Frankfort,  stiff  bows  only  were  exchanged. 
Elizabeth  had  asked  her  son  previously  to  request  Charles 
H.  to  stand  sponsor  for  his  half-animated  son.  The  boy 
was  named  Charles,  after  himself,  yet  the  ungracious 
Elector  hastened  to  contradict  and  deny  his  mother's  re- 
quest— for  reasons  of  state.^ 


1  Bromley  Letters. 


ELIZABETH  STUART 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

SUMMARY 

Satisfactory  arrangement  of  Elizabeth's  income  by  the  Dutch — Elopement 
of  her  daughter  Louisa  to  the  Antwerp  English  convent — Elizabeth's 
anger  against  Princess  Hohenzollern,  as  the  cause  of  her  child's  apostasy 
— Her  letter  to  Rupert  about  oranges — Lord  Craven  and  Elizabeth — 
Angry  with  her  son  "  Ned  " — Her  daughter  Louisa  becomes  a  nun  at 
Chaillot  under  the  protection  of  Queen  Henrietta — Elizabeth  opposes 
the  marriage  of  her  daughter  Sophia  with  Ernest  of  Hanover — Elizabeth's 
merry  letter — Restoration  of  Charles  11. — She  accompanies  him  to  his 
embarkation  for  England — Death  of  her  nephew  Gloucester  and  niece 
of  Orange  of  smallpox — Letters  to  her  son  the  Elector — Indignant  at 
his  frauds  and  equivocations — Her  wish  to  go  to  England — Letters  to 
the  heroic  Lord  Langdale — Preparations  for  departure  to  England — 
Her  nephew's  poverty  prevents  a  State-visit— Trustfulness  of  her  Dutch 
creditors — Has  no  carriage  to  take  her  to  embark — French  Ambassador 
takes  her  in  his  with  her  ladies — Clarendon  opposes  her  voyage — His 
secret  reasons — She  perseveres — Her  letter  to  Rupert — Tells  him  she  has 
satisfied  Clarendon — Arrives  incognita  at  Craven  House,  Drury  Lane — 
Kind  provision  made  for  her  by  Lord  Craven — Affectionate  reception  by 
Charles  11.  and  James  Duke  of  York — She  remains  incognita  for  a  time 
— Constantly  visited  by  the  King — Her  satisfaction — Expresses  gratitude 
towards  him — She  goes  to  the  opening  of  the  English  Opera-house  with 
the  King — Goes  with  him  often  to  theatres — Lord  Craven's  attachment 
and  services — She  hires  Leicester  House — Contest  with  the  Elector  about 
furniture — He  canvasses  her  for  a  presentation  to  Charterhouse — Her 
receptions  of  ambassadors — Takes  cold  going  into  Leicester  House — 
Breaks  a  blood-vessel — Charles  II.,  James,  and  Rupert,  hasten  to  her 
— Affectionate  farewell  to  them — Religious  preparation  and  calm  death 
— Burial  in  Westminster  Abbey — Account  of  her  descendants — Failure 
of  heirs-male. 

Great  tribulation  fell  on  the  Qaeen  of  Bohemia  on  the 
very  day  when  the  worst  of  her  pecuniary  difficulties  were 
alleviated.    She  had  entered  into  a  negotiation  with  the 


256 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


Dutch  States,  which  agreed  to  secure  to  her  permanently 
the  monthly  pension  of  10,000  livres  she  had  for  some  years 
been  receiving  from  them.  The  generous  Hogan  Mogans 
granted  this  request,  December  19,  1657.  On  the  even- 
ing of  that  day,  after  the  arrangement  of  this  business,  her 
daughter  Louisa  was  mysteriously  lost,  and  several  hours 
elapsed  before  Elizabeth  received  the  least  hint  as  to  where 
she  was  or  what  had  become  of  her.  The  most  terrible  tra- 
gedy was  supposed  to  have  taken  place  ;  in  fact,  the  Prin- 
cess issued  out  of  her  mother's  house  at  the  Hague,  alone 
and  disguised,  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  before  day- 
light was  distinct,  passed  through  the  streets  on  foot,  and 
without  money,  guide,  or  equipage,^  went  to  Delfthaven, 
where  an  agent  was  waiting  for  her  by  appointment,  who 
took  her  to  Bergen.  Here  she  was  welcomed  by  her  rela- 
tive the  Princess  of  Hohenzollern.  Finally  she  retired  to 
the  convent  of  the  Carmelites  Anglaises,  Antwerp.  It  was 
cruel  to  inflict  the  mortal  anguish  of  suspense  on  her  mother, 
who  was  in  great  agony  when  her  daughter  towards  night- 
fall was  missed.  The  next  day  a  letter  was  found  on  her 
toilette,  and  delivered  to  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  which 
announced  that  the  fugitive  had  escaped  "  on  account  of  the 
aversion  she  felt  to  receiving  the  Protestant  sacrament  on 
Christmas  day,  as  she  was  by  conviction  a  Roman  Catholic."^ 
A  memorial,  set  forth  by  the  priests  on  the  occasion,  men- 
tions Sybella  de  Ketler,  who  had  been  her  father's  governess 
and  then  her  own,  as  if  that  lady  had  paved  the  way  for  this 
secession  ;  likewise,  that  the  ultimate  conviction  of  Louisa 
arose  from  the  perusal  of  a  controversial  book  published 
by  the  Calvinists."  Indeed,  such  conversions  are  not  un- 
nsual  fruits  of  the  polemical  tree  on  whichever  side  they  hap- 
pen to  be  put  forth.  The  Princess  of  Hohenzollern  bore  all 
the  blame;  but  her  brother  Edward,  and  perhaps  Queen 
Henrietta  Maria,  were  the  real  instigators  of  the  escapade. 
Soon  after,  the  Princess  Louisa  made  her  recantation  of 

^  Oraisons  Funebres. 

^  This  escapade  of  the  Princess  Louisa  presents  many  features  of  the 
flight  of  the  Princess  Anne  of  Denmark  from  James  II.  Anne  caricatured 
the  adventure,  but  imitated  it  in  several  points. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


257 


the  Protestant  religion  in  the  English  Carmelite  convent  at 
Antwerp  with  great  ceremony.  The  Princess  of  Hohen- 
zollern  replied  very  humbly  to  the  angry  reproaches  Eliza- 
beth wrote  to  her.  Nevertheless,  the  Dutch  States,  on 
the  complaint  of  the  incensed  mother,  deprived  the  Princess 
of  her  privileges  at  Bergen,  as  a  punishment  for  perverting 
and  aiding  in  the  abduction  of  a  Protestant  virgin  of  royal 
rank.  The  Queen  was  forced  to  take  every  means  of  prov- 
ing that  she  was  not  an  abettor  of  her  daughter's  change, 
or  the  Dutch,  who  were  very  eager  Protestants,  might  have 
deprived  her  of  the  newly-settled  stipend,  her  chief  subsist- 
ence. Many  scandals  were  raised  on  the  occasion,  espe- 
cially by  a  lady  designated  by  Elizabeth  and  her  sons  as 
the  "  P.  of  Q."  ^  It  has  been  supposed  that  the  Princess 
of  Hohenzollern  is  indicated.  But  of  all  persons  the 
Princess  of  Hohenzollern  was  the  least  likely  to  depreciate 
the  character  of  her  convert  and  cousin. 

The  Queen  of  Bohemia  had  by  the  spring  recovered 
her  spirits  sufficiently  to  write,  in  a  tone  of  jesting  and  drol- 
lery, to  her  son  Rupert,  about  abstracting  some  oranges 
meant  for  him.  "  Robert  Cortez  sends  you  two  cases  of 
Portugal  oranges/'  writes  she;^  "two  for  the  King 
[Charles  II.],  and  two  for  me.  They  are  at  the  Brill,  but 
the  ice  is  not  yet  all  gone.  As  soon  as  they  come  you  shall 
have  your  part  sent  you.  I  believe  Lord  Craven  will  tell 
you  how  much  ado  he  has  had  to  save  your  part  from  me, 
for  I  made  him  believe  I  would  take  one  of  your  cases  for 
my  niece  and  the  [young]  Prince  of  Orange.  I  did  it  to 
vex  him.'' 

There  is  scarcely  any  other  instance  that  can  be  found 
among  her  correspondence,  voluminous  as  it  is,  where 
Lord  Craven  is  alluded  to  otherwise  than  as  a  mere  useful 
official.  She  proceeds  to  tell  Rupert  the  matters  on  her 
mind  concerning  her  daughter  Louisa,  whom  Charles  IL 

1  Bromley  Letters.  They  are  printed  very  incorrectly,  it  is  true,  but 
the  initial  Q.  goes  through  several  letters. 

2  Bromley  Letters — dated  the  Hague,  March  4,  1657-58. 


VOL.  VIII. 


E 


258 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


and  his  sister,  the  Princess  of  Orange,  had  lately  visited  in 
her  Carmelite  convent.  They  first  had  asked  their  aunt's 
leave  to  visit  her  renegade,  and  she  replied,  ''That  it  would 
be  only  too  much  honour  for  her  ;  but  since  the  P.  of  Q.  had 
told  such  base  lies  of  her,  they  would  do  a  very  good  action 
to  see  her  to  justify  her  innocence.  The  royal  party,  Charles 
11.  and  Mary  of  Orange,  and  my  other  nephew,"^  writes 
she,  ''  went  to  see  Louisa  in  the  monastery,  and  did  chide 
her  for  her  change  of  religion,  and  for  leaving  me  so  un- 
handsomely. Louisa  answered,  '  She  was  sorry  she  had 
displeased  me,  but  was  well  satisfied  with  her  change  of 
faith.'  "  Whatsoever  calumny  was  afloat  concerning  Louisa, 
it  related  to  matters  polemical  and  controversial,  not  to 
personal  slander ;  as  the  Queen  adds,  ''  that  the  Bishop  of 
Antwerp  had  written  a  letter  to  Prince  Edward,  where 
he  clears  Louisa  of  that  base  calumny;  yet  Ned  is  So 
wilful  as  that  he  excuses  the  Princess  of  Tarente.''^ 
Elizabeth  adds,  ''the  P.  of  Q.3  did  go  to  Antwerp  twice,  and 
spoke  with  Louisa.  I  have  not  yet  the  particulars.  Louisa 
writes  to  Merode,  the  President  of  the  States  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  that  they  parted  on  very  ill  terms.  I  hope  this 
week  we  shall  have  what  passed  between  them.  By  my 
next  you  shall  have  it.  At  her  return  hither  [to  the 
Hague],  the  P.  made  many  believe  that  she  had  brought 
me  letters  from  the  King  [Charles],  my  niece  the  Princess 
of  Orange,  and  Louisa,  to  justify  her,  and  that  she  had 
herself  given  them  to  me,  and  talked  two  hours  with  me, 
which  is  an  impudent  lie  V  After  which  outburst  of  ma- 
ternal rage,  Elizabeth  diverges  into  the  public  history  of  her 
country  :  "  Cromwell  has  broken  his  mock  Parliament  be- 
cause the  Independents  were  too  strong  for  him,  and  had 
prepared  a  petition,  signed  with  six  thousand  hands,  against 

^  Perhaps  the  Duke  of  York,  whom  she  mentions  the  next  week  as  her 
dear  Tint." 

2  Bromley  Letters. 

^  To  Miss  Benger's  Biography  of  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia  is  appended  some 
curious  notitia  of  her  familj^  translated  from  the  German,  where  it  is 
averred  that  the  scandalising  lady  is  the  Prioress  of  Quedlingberg. — See 
p.  447,  vol.  ii.  Elizabeth,  in  her  distress  and  anguish,  and  in  her  just 
anger  against  the  Princess  of  Hohenzollern,  mixes  the  two  incoherently  in 
her  letters. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


259 


his  being  king,  and,  indeed,  against  all  government  but  a 
commonwealth.  The  Lower  House  would  not  acknowledge 
the  Upper  House,  and  one  stood  up  and  said,  '  That  many 
of  the  pretended  House  of  Lords  would  do  well  to  seek  out 
their  pedigrees  first,  to  see  if  they  were  gentlemen  before 
being  Lords/ 

Elizabeth's  youngest  daughter  Sophia  was  not  at  the 
Hague  when  Louisa  fled  to  Antwerp,  but  writes  to  Prince 
Eupert,  the  next  month,  as  from  Heidelberg,  where  she 
was  with  her  niece  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  that  they  were 
expected  to  set  out  in  a  week,  if  not  delayed  by  some  illness 
of  the  child."  The  Queen  of  Bohemia  in  her  next  letter^ 
says,  ''Your  sister  Louisa  has  arrived  at  Chaillot.  Her  bro- 
ther Edward  went  and  fetched  her  from  Kouen.  The  Queen 
[Henrietta]  went  to  see  her  the  next  day.  The  King  of 
France  [Louis  XIV.]  went  thither  the  week  after.  They 
are  very  civil  to  her.  The  Queen  Henrietta  wrote  to  me, 
'  that  she  will  have  a  care  of  her  as  of  her  own  daughter, 
and  begs  for  her  pardon.'  But  I  have  excused  it  [declined 
pardoning  Louisa]  as  handsomely  as  I  could,  and  entreated 
her  not  to  take  it  ill,  but  only  to  think  what  she  would  do 
if  she  had  had  the  same  misfortune" — a  case  oddly  enough 
put  to  Henrietta  Maria,  who  had  never  been  permitted  to 
bring  up  her  children  in  her  own  religion.  Elizabeth  is 
still  wroth  that  "  Ned''  will  not  acknowledge  his  error  in 
having  so  good  an  opinion  ''of  the  P.;  she  is  detested  by 
Protestant  and  Papist.  I  have  such  a  cold  that  I  can  say 
no  more.    Farewell,  dear  Rupert." 

If  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  may  be  believed,  her  aunt 
Louisa's  profession  was  undertaken  without  any  religious 
motive,  but  merely  that  she  might  enjoy  a  noble  income,^ 
and  cultivate  in  peace  and  prosperity  her  love  for  painting ; 
that  she  never  spoke  to  the  nuns ;  and  when  she  went  to  the 
required  midnight  services,  instead  of  prayer  she  amused 
herself  by  watching,  with  a  painter's  eye,  the  fine  Rem- 

1  Bromley  Letters — Queen  of  Bohemia  to  Prince  Rupert,  Hague,  29th 
April  (1657). 

^  Letters  of  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  Duchess  of  Orleans.  In  those  edited  by 
Feder,  on  the  contrary,  she  dwells  on  her  aunt's  holiness  and  goodness. 


260 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


brandt  effects  of  light  and  shade  at  the  ilhimined  altar.^  To 
be  sure,  the  ill  motives  that  Elizabeth  Charlotte  attributes 
to  every  one  are  not  always  to  be  taken  on  trust;  but  the 
reader  must  not  fall  into  the  gross  mistake  of  some  writers, 
who  assert  that  she  threw  imputations  of  the  coarsest  immo- 
rality on  her  aunt  Louisa  after  she  became  Abbess  of  Mau- 
bisson,  when,  in  fact,  the  abbess  whom  she  affirms  had  the 
tliirteen  children,  had  been  a  married  woman,  and  flourished 
in  the  reign  of  Francis  I.  A  small  space  of  a  century  and 
a  half  had  elapsed  since  the  arrival  of  that  poor  Louisa  at 
Maubisson  w^hora  the  French  savants  have  pretended  that 
her  niece  of  Orleans  calumniated. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Elizabeth  ever  saw^  this  favourite 
child  again  after  her  desertion.  The  mother  felt  the  blow 
more  severely  than  any  of  her  many  misfortunes.  She  wrote 
with  more  passion  and  anger  regarding  those  who  had 
wiled  away  Louisa  than  appears  in  any  of  her  previous 
correspondence.  On  the  Princess  of  Hohenzollern  her 
displeasure  chiefly  fell ;  but  there  are  many  indications  that 
the  leading  spirit  in  the  affair  was  Queen  Henrietta  Maria, 
Avho  perhaps  in  this  manner  repaid  the  active  interfer- 
ence of  Elizabeth  when  her  son,  the  young  Duke  of  Glou- 
cester, took  refuge  at  the  Hague  and  at  Breda  from  her 
persecuting  endeavours  to  make  him  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic :  for  it  w^as  but  a  few  months  after  Elizabeth  and  the 
Princess  of  Orange  had  received  at  Breda  the  young 
son  of  Henrietta  as  a  Protestant  refugee,  that  the  Queen 
welcomed  the  daughter  of  Elizabeth  as  a  votary  at  her 
Chaillot  foundation.  The  widow^ed  queens  had  changed 
c!)iklren. 

The  marriage  of  her  Calvinist  daughter  Sophia  with  the 
Lutheran  prince  Ernest  Auguste  of  Brunswick-Lunenburg, 
in  the  succeeding  summer,  afforded  little  consolation  for 
the  escape  of  her  Roman  Catholic  runaway.  Elizabeth  had 
opposed  the  engagement  with  all  her  might  for  some 
months.  However,  when  she  found  that  her  eldest  son 
insisted  on  disposing  of  Sophia  as  his  subject  and  vassal, 

*  The  letters  of  her  brother  the  Elector,  Charles  Louis,  in  the  Archives 
of  IL.Lover,  sneeriugly  attribute  the  same  motive  to  her. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


261 


she  made  the  best  of  it,  and  actually  became  very  friendly 
on  further  acquaintance  with  her  handsome  son-in-law, 
the  nephew  of  her  old  friend,  protector,  and  cousin, 
Christian  Bishop  of  Halberstadt.  The  best  prospect  lier 
son-in-law  had  was  the  reversion  of  one  of  those  rather  un- 
edifying  German  prelacies,  where  benedictions  were  given, 
in  Teutonic  fashion,  as  knocks  on  the  head,  and  the  church- 
militant  hired  out  her  flock  to  fight  wheresoever  the  human 
species  was  proving  itself  the  most  pugnacious  part  of  the 
creation.  While  Ernest  and  Sophia  were  waiting  the  re- 
version of  their  bishopric,  Elizabeth  retained  them  as  her 
inmates  at  the  Hague,  v/here  Sophia  had  her  establishment 
for  the  education  of  her  young  niece,  the  Electoral  Princess 
Elizabeth  Cliarlotte,  whose  reminiscences  of  her  grandmo- 
ther were  thus  rendered  most  vivid.  The  time  was  draw- 
ing on  for  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts.  Cromwell, 
whom  we  may  remember  Elizabeth,  in  one  of  her  letters, 
had  declared  to  be  the  Beast  in  the  Revelations,''  and 
''wished  him  the  same  destination,''  had  departed  to 
his  ultimate  abiding-place,  w^heresoever  that  might  be,  in 
the  stormy  autumn  of  1659.  EHzabeth's  home  w^as  the 
rallying-point  of  the  Cavaliers,  and  she  was  as  active  a 
partisan  of  her  nephew,  Charles  II.,  as  a  penniless  lady 
could  be.  She  spent  her  time,  for  the  convenience  of  occa- 
sionally meeting  her  nephew,  at  Breda,  which  was  just 
within  the  territory  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands.  Here  the 
Princess  of  Orange  had  a  dower-house  and  beautiful 
grounds:  for  after  the  strong  alliance  which  had  taken 
place  between  the  Orange  party  in  Holland  and  Spain, 
this  property  had  been  restored  to  her.  It  had  become 
the  harbour  of  refuge  for  the  exiled  English  princes,  her 
brothers,  when  they  were  hunted  from  France,  or  from 
the  Hague,  by  political  parties  subservient  to  the  usurper 
in  England. 

A  merry,  mad  epistle  was  written  by  Elizabeth  to  a 
nobleman  of  the  wandering  court  of  Charles  II.,  concerning 
the  sectarian  eccentricities  of  her  first  lady,  the  Countess 
Lowenstein.  There  is  a  paper  extant  in  French,  written 
coarsely  enough  by  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  or  one  of  her 


262 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


sons,  entitled  "  Faltes,  gestes,  and  prowesses  of  the  Com- 
tesse  de  Lewenstein,  pretended  ambassadress  of  her  Ma- 
jesty''^ during  her  sojourn  at  Breda.  The  Countess,  it 
seems,  was  a  butt  at  the  courts  of  Orange  and  the  Palatine, 
at  whom  every  one  aimed  the  shafts  of  wit  or  mockery. 

"  My  Lord,^ — I  assure  you  your  letter  was  very  welcome  to  me,  being 
glad  to  find  you  are  still  heart-whole,  and  that  you  are  in  better  health, 
and  your  cough  is  gone.  As  to  your  appetite,  I  confess  that  outlandish 
messes  are  not  so  good  as  beef  and  mutton.  I  pray  remember  how  ill 
pickled  herring  did  use  you  here,  and  brought  you  many  of  your  hundred 
and  fifty  fevers.  As  for  the  Countess,  I  can  tell  you  heavy  news  of  her, 
for  she  has  turned  Quaker,  and  preaches  every  day  in  a  tub  !  Your  nephew 
George  can  tell  you  of  her  quaking,  but  her  tub-preaching  has  come  on 
since  he  went.  I  believe  at  last  she  will  grow  an  Adamite.^  I  wish  your 
nephews  both  had  some  of  her  pippens  preserved  in  their  messes  ;  it  would 
do  them  much  good. 

"  I  did  not  hear  you  w^ere  dead,  wherefore  I  hope  you  keep  your 
promise  not  to  die  till  you  let  me  know  it ;  but  you  must  also  stay  till  I 
give  you  leave  to  die,  which  will  not  be  till  we  meet  shooting  somewhere, 
but  where  that  is  God  knows  best.  I  can  tell  little  other  news,  my  chief 
exercise  being  to  jaunt  between  this  and  Tiding,  where  my  niece  [of 
Orange]  has  been  all  this  winter. 

"  I  am  now  in  mourning  for  my  brother-in-law  the  Duke  of  Simmeren's 
death.  My  Lady  Stanhope  and  her  husband  [the  Dutch  statesman  Heren- 
vliet]  are  going  six  weeks  hence  into  France,  to  the  waters  of  Bourbon  ; 
which  is  all  I  will  say  now,  only  that  I  am  ever  your  most  afiectionate 
friend,  Elizabeth. 
I  pray  remember  me  to  your  lady,  and  to  Lord  Winchelsea. 
"Hague,  March  4,  1658-59." 

The  Queen  of  Bohemia  would  not  in  former  years  have 
mentioned  with  nonchalance  in  a  merry  letter  the  death  of 
her  husband's  brave  brother,  Louis  of  Simmeren,  the  young 
hero  who  guarded  her  in  her  disastrous  flight  from  Prague, 
and  took  care  of  her  children  through  many  dangers ;  but 
the  differences  of  Lutheran  and  Calvinist  interests  in  politics 
had  long  alienated  them. 

At  last  time  struck  the  hour  of  the  Restoration,  and  in 
the  middle  of  May  1860  there  was  a  general  gathering  of 
the  friends  and  relatives  of  the  restored  sovereign.  Eliza- 
beth was  then  at  the  Hague,  where  she  witnessed  the  grand 

^  Bromley  Letters — Lambeth  MSS. 
The  letter  is  supposed  to  be  addressed  to  Daniel  Finch,  afterwards 
Lord  Nottingham. 

'  A  sect  of  Dutch  dissenters,  who,  considering  clothes  as  badges  of  ori- 
ginal sin,  dispensed  with  wearing  any. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


263 


entry  of  her  nephews,^  accompanied  by  their  sister  Mary, 
Princess  of  Orange,  whose  small  son,  afterwards  William 
III,  was  perched  on  the  knee  of  one  of  the  royal  Stuart 
brothers;  and  this — 0  changing  world! — was  his  nncle 
James  Duke  of  York,  afterwards  James  IL,  who  was  pecu- 
liarly beloved  by  the  mother,  and  had  always  cherished  dearly 
her  fatherless  little  one.  Elizabeth  and  her  party  accom- 
panied Charles  IL  in  the  barge  that  conveyed  him  and  his 
brothers  to  the  stately  vessel  destined  to  carry  them  to 
England.  She  dined  with  him  in  the  cabin,  where  he 
placed  her  at  his  right  hand,  and  his  sister  Mary  on  his  left 
— two  Princess-royals  of  Great  Britain  ;  but  Elizabeth  took 
precedence  as  a  queen — a  nominal  queen,  it  is  true;  yet 
her  niece  was  merely  nominal  Princess  of  the  far-distant 
Orange  province  in  the  south  of  France.  Elizabeth,  with 
tears  and  blessings,  bade  farewell  to  the  departing  Sove- 
reign and  his  brothers ;  then,  with  her  niece  the  Princess  of 
Orange,  descended  into  the  barge  that  had  brought  them 
to  the  haven  of  Delft.^  At  Hampton  Court  there  is  a  paint- 
ing showing  the  rejoicings  of  the  Holland  boors  on  the 
occasion  ;  it  bears  a  wonderful  similitude  to  the  humours 
of  a  Dutch  fair. 

The  Queen  of  Bohemia  had  taken  part  in  all  rejoicings  of 
high  and  low,  with  that  lively  good  temper  which  won  for 
her  from  Pepys  the  applause  of  being  a  very  debonnaire 
lady — a  term  implying  good  manners,  accessibility,  and 
natural  sweet  temper.  He  adds,^  that  she  was  plain  ;  " 
but  he  describes  her  dress,  not  her  person,  by  this  phrase. 
Gorgeous  attire  was  forbidden  to  widows  at  that  era ;  they 
had  to  lay  aside  all  gems  and  glittering  robes  until  a  second 
marriage.  The  plain  attire  of  the  portraits  of  Henrietta 
Maria,  as  Queen-Dowager,  in  Quakerly  simplicity,  all  but 
a  pearl  pin  or  two,  illustrate  this  fact  clearly  enough. 

Many  events  painful  to  Elizabeth  followed  in  rapid  suc- 
cession. The  deaths  of  two  of  her  best-beloved  relatives 
marked  the  close  of  the  Restoration  year.  Her  "  nephew 
Harry,''  as  she  always  termed  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  died 
of  the  smallpox  in  England ;  and  her    best  niece,''  as  she 

^  Theatre  de  I'Europe.  Ibid.  ^  Pepys'  Diary. 


264 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


called  Mary,  Princess  of  Orange,  who  bad  followed  the 
royal  family  to  England,  fell  ill  of  the  same  disease.  Eliza- 
beth's friend,  Lord  Craven,  who  was  in  London,  wrote  to 
her,  giving  hopes  of  the  Princess's  recovery,  in  these  words: 
''I  believe  your  Majesty  will  hear  the  hot  alarum  of  the 
Princess-Royal's  being  in  great  danger  of  death  ;  which 
indeed  was  this  morning  sadly  apprehended  by  many  ;  but 
because  your  Majesty  should  not  be  frighted,  I  have  been 
with  her,  and,  God  be  praised,  she  is  much  better/'  The 
Princess,  nevertheless,  sunk  under  the  perpetual  bleedings 
inflicted  by  her  doctors,  and  expired  on  Christmas  Eve 
1660.  The  acknowledgment  of  the  Duke  of  York's  mar- 
riage with  Anne  Hyde  was  pending  at  the  time  of  this 
death.  j\Iary,  Princess  of  Orange,  had  opposed  it  violently. 
Elizabeth  showed  no  such  spirit.  She  had  always  loved 
the  young  lady,  and  avowed  her  belief  in  the  harmlessness 
of  her  intentions  regarding  stealing  the  Duke  of  York's 
heart,  as  Lord  Craven,  in  one  of  his  despatches  from  Eng- 
land, had  rather  reproachfully  reminded  her,  saying,  "Your 
Majesty  knows  it  is  what  I  have  feared  long,  although  you 
were  not  of  that  opinion." 

The  Queen  had  written  to  her  son,  the  Elector  Charles 
Louis,  in  great  anguish  of  mind,  on  the  deaths  of  her 
nephew  and  niece.    He  replied  with  unwonted  humanity. 

"  I  am  very  sorry,"  ^  he  says,  "  for  the  new  affliction  God  hath  sent  upon 
your  royal  family,  whereof  I  am  the  more  sensible,  because  I  know  how 
near  it  toucheth  your  Majesty's  affection,  which  was  ever  great  towards  the 
deceased  Princess  of  Orange,  of  whom  you  will  daily  find  the  want  while 
you  are  at  the  Hague.  I  pray  God,"  he  adds,  "  comfort  j^our  Majesty  in 
all  these  great  afflictions,  and  to  do  me  the  grace  that  I  may  be  able  to  con- 
tribute something— if  not  so  much  as  my  duty  requires— towards  it.^' 

Though  seeming  well,  all  this  was  utter  grimace,  as  the 
Queen  his  mother  soon  proved.  She  had  dispensed  her  last 
coin  for  the  two  heavy  mournings  she  was  obliged  to  give 
her  household,  out  of  respect  to  the  memories  of  the  nephew 
and  niece  she  had  lost — Gloucester  and  Mary.  Her  son, 
the  Elector,  had  previously  given  some  intimation  that  he 
would  help  her,  but,  as  usual,  repented  him  of  his  promises  ; 

^  Bromley  Letters,  January  12/22,  1 661. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


2G5 


on  which  his  Queen-mother  wrote  him  a  scornful  castiga- 
tion,  dated  two  days  after he  sent  her  the  above-quoted, 
and  the  letters  must  have  crossed  on  the  road.  She  had 
written  many  to  him  in  the  same  style. 

I  am  glad  I  was  deceived,"  she  says,  "  and  that  you  intend  shortly  to 
send  me  to  the  King,  and  that  Sophia  will  pass  this  way.  I  assure  you  I 
neither  am  nor  ever  was  unreasonable  so  that  nothing  will  satisfy  me.  I 
desire  not  to  ruin  you  or  make  you  live  under  what  you  do.  In  my  letter 
I  told  you  why  I  did  not  send  one  to  be  informed  of  your  revenue,  for 
either  they  were  such  as  durst  not  offend  you,  or  such  as  might  easily  have 
been  deceived,  being  strangers  ;  and  besides,  in  the  condition  my  family 
was  then  in,  I  easily  imagined  they  would  not  be  much  regarded.  What  I 
have  received  from  you  since  your  restitution  [restoration]  is  not  so  much. 
Till  Frankendal  was  restored  to  you,  you  gave  me  two  thousand  rix-dollars 
a-month,  but  since  that  you  gave  me  but  half  ;  and  I  was  some  six  months, 
as  I  take  it,  [far]  from  receiving  anything  to  reVjate  little  of  the  £6000  the 
Emperor  gave  me."  ^ 

III  a  pretended  scarcity  of  specie,  the  Elector  had  offered 
to  pay  his  royal  mother  her  dues  from  her  dower  at  Frank- 
enthal  by  produce  in  kind — namely,  corn  and  wine — hoping 
that  the  cumbersomeness  of  the  material  would  prevent  her 
acceptance  ;  but  it  was  a  time  of,  dearth  at  the  Hague,  and 
her  hungry  family  would  have  been  very  glad  of  these  ex- 
cellent goods ;  she  therefore  took  him  at  his  word,  offering 
to  pay  for  their  transport  down  the  Rhine  from  Bachar- 
ach.  With  the  usual  fraud  of  his  character,  the  Elector 
flinched  from  his  offer,  and  severely  enough  does  his  royal 
mother  deal  with  him  in  this  letter.  She  had  already 
treated  with  scorn  his  offer  to  show  any  messenger  of  hers 
the  state  of  his  revenue,  and  proved  his  injustice  in  cutting 
off  half  her  income  as  soon  as  he  got  possession  of  the  dis- 
trict of  Frankenthal,  which  was  peculiarly  her  own. 

"  By  your  letters,"  she  continues,^  "  I  can  testify  that  the  corn  and  wine 
was  promised  me,  and  I  was  desired  to  ask  the  parties.  It  was  reason  you 
should  pay  for  them  more  than  I.  You  could  not  lose  by  sending  the  corn 
and  wine  but  very  little  ;  but  you  know  I  did  offer  that  from  Bacharach 
the  transport  should  cost  you  nothing.  You  sent  me  one  seven  thousand 
guilders  for  living.  I  do  not  mention  the  mournings,  for  that  is  a  thing 
of  course.  I  had  not  lacked  fine  bread  and  candles  if  you  had  helped  me 
as  you  promised.  But  sixteen  thousand  guilders  could  not  do  it,  living  as 
I  do,  much  less  than  I  should,  which  made  me,  in  a  manner,  beg  the  State's 
assistance  ;  and  as  it  is,  I  cannot  give  my  servants  their  wages.    If  remem- 


1  Bromley  Letters,  dated  Jan.  24/14,  1661.  ^  i^id.  3  j]^)^^^ 


266 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


bering  you  to  have  done  more  would  have  done  it,  you  should  not  have 
lacked  [being  reminded].  But  when  I  wrote  to  you  of  some  things  of  that 
nature,  I  never  received  answer,  which  has  hindered  me  to  write  concern- 
ing my  niece's  mourning ;  but  since  you  desire  to  be  remembered  of  it, 
you  may  send  me  what  it  cost." 

There  was  some  claim  regarding  mourning  that  the 
Queen  had  a  right  to  demand  of  her  son,  as  being  Dowager 
Electress-Palatine ;  but  she  had  very  wisely  not  waited  for 
his  slow  and  niggardly  disbursements,  although  these  ex- 
penses had  deprived  her  of  white  bread  and  candles.  The 
sordid  spirit  she  appealed  to  replied  in  a  more  odious  tone 
than  usual.  Denying  vehemently  that  he  ever  offered  the 
corn  and  wine,  he  continues  : — 

"  I  very  well  remember  that  your  Majesty  seldom  wrote  to  me  but  on 
money  subjects  since  I  was  in  Germany,  which  I  do  not  blame  your  Ma- 
jesty for,  but  only  I  am  sorry  that  oftentimes  I  could  not  answer  you  but 
with  my  leg,"  ^ 

By  making  a  bow  of  denial  perhaps  the  Elector  means ; 
but  returning  to  the  corn  and  wine,  of  which  his  poor 
mother  has  shown  she  was  even  personally  in  need,  he  con- 
tinues with  the  utmost  hardness  : — 

"  As  for  the  transport  of  wine  and  corn  from  Bacharach  into  Holland, 
that  it  should  cost  me  nothing,  I  hope  your  Majesty  doth  not  think  me  so 
stupid  that,  if  any  such  ways  had  been  showed,  I  should  not  have  accepted 
it,  for  my  own  profit  as  well  as  for  your  Majesty's  accommodation.  But  those 
that  make  such  projects  are  better  acquainted  how  to  eat  and  drink  it  than 
how  to  sell  it,  and  love  to  tattle  of  it ;  but  when  it  comes  to  the  point,  they 
know  not  how  to  make  it  good.  I  do  well  believe  that  if  I  would  give  them 
corn  and  wine  at  Bacharach  almost  for  nothing,  as  (if  I  do  well  remember) 
they  pretended,  they  might  well  carry  it  for  Holland  without  any  cost.  But 
I  should  be  no  gainer,  but  a  loser  by  that  bargain,  for  they  think  corn  and 
wine  groweth  here  with  no  more  cost  and  hazard  than  mushrooms.  If 
there  be  any  so  good  husbandmen  amongst  them,  I  wish  they  may  come 
up  and  rent  all  my  revenue  in  that  kind,  and  then  I  am  content  to  receive 
one-third  less  in  money  of  what  it  is  worth  in  the  best  years." 

And  all  this  tirade,  which  is  levelled  against  his  unfortu- 
nate mother,  under  the  general  accusation  of they  " — persons 
whom  he  designates  not — is  because  she,  having  no  wheaten 
bread  to  eat  for  herself  and  her  household,  had  accepted  his 

^  Bromley  Letters,  January  26/16,  1661.  This  is  the  true  date  of  the 
year,  new  style,  as  was  used  on  the  Continent.  English  history  did  not 
reckon  the  new  year  till  after  March  25,  which  we  now  and  then  repeat  to 
keep  our  young  readers  in  mind  of  the  true  dates. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


267 


offer  of  paying  m  kind  her  dues  from  the  produce  of  her 
own  dower-estates,  and  offered  to  be  chargeable  for  the 
freightage  from  Bacharach  down  the  Rhine  to  the  Hague. 
His  brothers  and  sisters  called  this  worldling  among  them- 
selves Timon  the  Misanthrope — too  respectable  a  compari- 
son by  far,  for  Timon  was  honest,  generous,  and  had  been 
ungratefully  used,  which  had  provoked  him  into  growl- 
ing over  much.  Rupert,  Elizabeth,  and  Louisa  used  to 
mention  derisively,  in  their  family  intercourse  by  letter, 
his  extreme  dexterity  in  making  out  a  case  consonant  to  his 
own  selfish  interests. 

Thus  cut  off  from  her  supplies  due  on  her  dower  in  the 
Palatinate,  both  in  money  and  goods,  the  Queen  of  Bohemia 
announced  her  intention  forthwith  of  coming  up  the  Rhine 
to  Frankenthal,  and  taking  possession  of  her  dower-palace 
there,  which  resolution  by  no  means  suited  her  ungracious 
son,  who,  dating  his  answer  February  2,  from  Heidelberg, 
1661,  commences  with  exclaiming: — 

"  Sure  your  Majesty  hath  forgot  in  what  condition  the  house  of  Frank- 
endal,  which  they  call  the  ShafFnony,  is  in  when  you  were  pleased  to  write 
of  preparing  it  for  you  !  For  no  preparation  would  have  made  that  fit  for 
your  living  in  it  but  a  whole  new  building,  which  to  do,  on  a  sudden  or  in 
a  few  years,  my  purse  was  never  yet  in  a  condition  for  it ;  but  I  intended 
to  do  it  by  little  and  little,  and  had  then  begun  it,  if  your  Majesty  had 
come  hither [namely,  to  Heidelberg].    ^'  I  have  done  a  little  last  year."  ^ 

He  likewise  announces  daily  expectation  of  the  arrival  of 
the  Duchess,  his  sister  Sophia,  who  came  to  Heidelberg 
when  there  was  "  some  intermission  in  the  tempestuous 
weather  of  February,  expecting  to  proceed  to  the  Hague, 
that  she  might  see  her  mother  before  her  intended  departure 
for  England." 

Every  day  Elizabeth  grew  more  anxious  to  leave  her 
irksome  sojourn  at  the  Hague  and  return  to  her  native 
land.  She  was  in  correspondence  with  several  of  the  old 
Cavaliers,  who  had  borne  all  the  severity  of  the  changing 
times  in  England  without  flinching  from  their  loyalty  or 
truckling  to  the  usurper.  Of  these,  one,  the  most  honoured, 
w^as  the  heroic  Sir  Marmaduke  Langdale,  and  his  venerable 


1  Bromley  Letters. 


268 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


father,  who  had  been  recently  advanced  to  a  peerage,  with 
the  title  of  Lord  Langdale,  a  circumstance  which  dates 
the  time  of  the  following  series  of  notes  addressed  by  the 
Qaeen  of  Bohemia  to  the  elder  Marmaduke  Langdale. 
They  are  preserved  in  the  charter-chests  of  the  Honourable 
Philip  Stourton  of  Holme  House,  Yorkshire,  by  whose 
kind  permission  they  are  now  for  the  first  time  laid  before 
the  public,  offering  some  of  those  specimens  of  Elizabeth's 
correspondence  which,  in  conveniently  brief  space,  show  at 
once  her  mode  of  writing,  and  withal  no  little  of  her  cha- 
racteristic spirit.  There  were  other  letters  of  this  series, 
for  she  speaks  with  no  little  glee  of  a  mistake  the  old 
Cavalier  had  made  by  sending  in  her  envelope  a  letter 
addressed  to  one  of  his  stewards  or  factors,  and  to  him  the 
epistle  destined  for  her  Majesty. 

HagJi,  Feb.  5/15. 

My  Lord, — I  send  you  your  letter  again,  where  you  will  see  how  you 
mistooke  the  superscription.  I  believe  those  you  sent  my  letter  to  were 
as  much  surprised  to  see  *  Madame '  and  *  Majestie '  upon  it  as  I  was  to  see 
'  Gentlemen.'  If  I  had  you  here  I  would  jeer  you  to  some  tune  for  it ;  but 
now  I  am  mercifull  to  you,  and  onlie  assure  you  that  I  am  and  will  [be] 
extremely  your  friend.  There  is  no  news  stirring  here.  Your  freud 
Eupert  has  not  been  well  since  he  came  into  his  quarters  ;  he  had  like  to 
have  had  a  feaver  ;  but  he  writes  to  me  [that]  it  had  left  him,  onelie  he  was 
a  little  weak.  As  soone  as  he  can  he  will  be  in  England,  where  ,1  wish  my- 
self [sic\  for  this  place  is  verie  dull  now,  for  there  is  verie  little  companie.; 
so  I  can  say  no  more,  but  am  ever  your  verie  affectionat  frend, 

Elizabeth." 

Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  those  who  have  traced  the  actions 
of  the  Princes  of  the  Palatine  family  as  the  commencers 
of  the  terrible  Thirty  Years'  War — a  religious  civil  war  of 
the  most  hideous  character — Rupert  is  at  this  time  found 
as  a  mercenary  commander  in  the  service  of  the  Emperor 
of  Germany — the  mortal  foe  of  his  house  and  the  Protest- 
ant religion.  But  Charles  II.  wished  to  have  his  assistance 
in  England ;  and  we  see  by  his  mother's  next  letter  to 
Lord  Langdale  that  at  her  request  Rupert  was  preparing 
to  withdraw  from  the  Imperial  service. 

"  My  Lord, — You  need  make  no  excuse  for  your  mistake,  for  I  have 
committed  the  like  manie  times.  Rupert  has  beene  ill,  but  is  now  reco- 
vered, and  gone  to  Rostock  to  change  aire.  I  have  written  to  him  to  come 
hither  to  go  to  England  as  soone  as  he  can.    T  hear  there  be  some  new  pri- 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


269 


sonners.  I  hope  they  shall  have  what  they  deserve.  It  is  so  hott  that  I 
can  write  no  more  ;  but  rest  ever  your  verie  afFectionat  frend, 

Elizabeth." 

"  For  the  Lord  Langdale." — (Black  seals,  but  no  silk.) 
[Supposed  April  1661.] 

The  prisoners  Elizabeth  alludes  to  were  perhaps  Morison, 
Mildmay,  and  Wallop,  pardoned  by  Charles  II.  on  making 
public  confession  of  their  crimes,  and  doing  public  penance 
for  them  some  months  afterwards. 

In  her  next  letter  to  Lord  Langdale  she  gives  information 
regarding  Eupert,  who  in  a  short  time  transferred  his  ser- 
vices from  the  Emperor  to  his  cousin  Charles  II.  Her 
letter  has  been  bound  with  five  threads  of  black  sewing-silk, 
over  which  she  has  sealed  two  small  black  impressions  of  the 
arms  of  her  husband,  empaled  with  those  of  England,  sur- 
mounted by  a  broad  low-arched  crown.  The  silk  threads 
are  still  under  the  seals.'  Her  hand  is  a  very  large  scram- 
bling one,  like  her  father's,  James  I.,  but  not  difficult  to 
read. 

"  My  Lord, — I  am  verie  glad  to  know  by  your  letter  that  you  are  so  well 
arrived  in  England,  and  that  the  King  doe  still  continue  his  affection  to 
Rupert.  I  have  sent  him  your  letter  ;  he  had  not  yett  had  answere  from 
the  Emperour  for  his  leave,  but  looked  for  it  everie  day.  He  meant  in  the 
meanetime  to  goe  to  Berlin  to  visit  the  Electour  of  Brandebourg,  where  I 
believe  my  letters  will  finde  him.  I  assure  you  I  cannot  be  in  England 
sooner  than  I  wish  myself  ;  and  when  the  King  shall  please  to  send  for  me 
I  shall  goe  verie  willingly.  I  pray  remember  him  [of]  that  when  you  find  a 
fitt  time.  The  weather  is  so  hott  I  can  say  no  more,  but  assure  you  that 
I  am  ever  your  verie  affectionat  frend,  Elizabeth." 

She  was  anxiously  looking  forward  to  her  departure  for 
England,  as  may  be  perceived.  She  complains  of  dulness, 
and  indeed  the  death  of  the  Princess  of  Orange  in  Eng- 
land, and  the  apostasy  of  the  Princess  Louisa,  now  a  nun 
in  France,  had  literally  left  her  alone  with  her  creditors 
at  the  Hague.  She  had  no  prospect  of  her  latter  days 
being  cheered  by  those  who  had  aided  her  in  bearing  the 
troubles  of  the  past.  After  the  last  brutal  repulse  from  her 
son,  the  Elector,  the  thoughtsof  the  world-worn  Queen  turned 
wholly  to  her  island  home.  Unfortunately  the  royal  family, 
lately  restored,  were  unable  to  meet  Elizabeth  with  any- 
thing like  the  magnificence  with  which  her  mind  had 


270 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


connected  the  ideas  of  a  visit  to  England.  In  the  early 
days  of  her  marriage  she  had  computed  the  cost  of  a  State 
progress  and  voyage  to  see  her  father  at  the  enormous  sum 
of  <£^10050005  a  fact  which  must  have  caused  her  to  be  con- 
sidered ahuost  an  impossible  guest.  England,  teeming 
with  wealth  when  she  left  it  under  the  peaceful  sway  of 
her  father,  was  now  scarcely  recovering  from  the  dead  col- 
lapse endured  under  the  gripe  of  Cromwell.  His  sevenfold 
weight  of  taxes  and  bungling  maritime  laws  had  completed 
the  ruin  of  her  commerce,  which  was  annihilated.  The 
country  was  as  poor  as  her  restored  king,  whose  palaces 
were  dismantled  and  remained  desolate. 

Henrietta  Maria  had,  after  a  short  sojourn,  left  the  ruin- 
ous Whitehall,  and  returned  to  France  with  her  youngest 
daughter,  until  the  royal  appanages,  then  consisting  of 
lands,  could  bring  forth  their  increase  under  the  heal- 
ing hand  of  time.  Such  w^ere  the  real  facts  of  the  case 
when  Elizabeth  expressed  her  wishes  to  be  present  at  her 
nephew's  inauguration ;  but  since  the  Norman  Conquest  there 
never  had  been  so  parsimonious  a  coronation.  EHzabeth, 
with  her  well-known  mania  of  extravagance,  her  obsolete 
taste  for  parade  and  pageants,  would  but  have  lamented 
over  the  glory  of  her  house  departed.  She  was  entreated 
by  her  nephew  to  wait  until  the  coronation  was  over. 

The  utter  impracticability  of  a  State  visit  being  evident 
enough,  the  thoughts  of  Elizabeth  turned  to  the  possibility 
of  going  to  England  incognita.  Her  faithful  friend  Lord 
Craven  had  been  for  some  time  there,  taking  possession  of  his 
estates  confiscated  by  Cromwell.  He  offered  her  his  stately 
mansion  in  Drury  Lane,  wherein  she  could  dwell  if  she 
would  make  a  visit  to  England.  Thus  the  chief  expenses, 
besides  all  the  delay  of  a  State  arrival,  would  be  obviated. 
Elizabeth  resolved  to  accept  this  generous  offer,  yet  was 
unwilling  to  assume  the  appearance  of  flying  from  her 
creditors  at  the  Hague,  where  she  owed  about  <£^50,000, 
chiefly  for  the  necessaries  of  life ;  but  the  kind  people  to 
whom  she  was  indebted  had  that  confidence  in  her  honour 
that  they  were  quite  willing  to  let  her  depart,  perfectly 
convinced  that  her  presence  would  induce  the  English 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


271 


Parliament  to  pay  the  arrears  acknowledged  as  her  due, 
and  that  thus  they  should  be  paid  more  quickly  than  if 
she  remained  with  them.  Her  health  was  good,  her 
person  vigorous  and  active ;  therefore  they  looked  for- 
ward to  many  remittances  if  they  facilitated  her  return  to 
her  own  country.^  Moreover,  the  States  of  Holland  offered 
to  send  her  over  in  one  of  their  best  ships,  convoyed  by 
two  others.  Elizabeth  then  wrote  to  her  old  friend  Ormond 
her  intention  of  embarking  at  Helvoetsluys  early  in  May ; 
of  giving  no  trouble  or  expense,  as  the  States  found  her  iu 
ships  ;  of  bringing  a  very  small  train,  under  thirty  persons, 
and  her  ardent  wish  being  to  congratulate  her  nephew  on  his 
recent  coronation.  She  thanks  her  nephew  for  his  kind- 
ness to  Eupert,  who  was  henceforward  to  reside  in  Eng- 
land. 

Ehzabeth  received  her  daughter  Sophia,  now  called 
Duchess  of  Lunenburg,  who  had  still  the  charge  of  the 
eldest  daughter  of  the  Elector,  Charles  Louis,  and  she 
brought  this  child,  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  afterwards  Duchess 
of  Orleans,  to  take  the  last  look  of  her  grandmother,  and 
bid  her  farewell.  How  earnest  was  that  last  look  there  is 
good  reason  to  know,  since  she  has  provided  her  biographer 
with  the  admirable  graphic  portrait  already  quoted,  noting 
well  the  beautiful  dark  hair  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  and 
the  fine  oval  contour  of  her  face,  her  delicate  features,  the 
clear  ivory  of  her  skin,  her  height,  and  air  of  majesty. 
Alas,  it  was  majesty  divested  of  externals,  for  Elizabeth 
had  neither  a  coach  to  convey  herself  to  the  place  of  em- 
barkation, nor  the  means  to  hire  one.  But  the  French 
Ambassador,  to  whom  she  communicated  her  embarrass- 
ment, kindly  conveyed  her  to  Delft  in  his  own  carriage,  ac- 
companied by  her  ladies.  Beside  the  courteous  ambassador 
were  the  Queen,  the  Countess  Kinsky  her  first  lady,  and 
four  faithful  Dutchwomen,  one  of  whom  was  Mademoiselle 
Von  Myle,  daughter  of  the  unfortunate  Roman  Catholic 
citizen  whose  house  had  been  sequestered  by  the  States, 
and  given  to  the  Queen  on  her  first  arrival  at  the  Hague, 

1  French  Ambassador's  letter  from  the  Hague  to  Louis  XIV.,  May  1661. 
Harl.  Col.,  Brit.  Mus. 


272 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


and  to  whose  distressed  family  she  had  behaved  with  her 
usual  generous  spirit.  Her  daughter  Sophia,  and  Duke 
Ernest  Auguste  her  husband,  met  her  in  the  haven  in  a 
State  barge,  which  was  to  row  her  to  the  Dutch  man-of-war 
awaiting  her  ;  but  before  she  embarked  the  captain  of  an 
English  frigate  intercepted  her  with  a  letter  from  Claren- 
don, announcing  his  regret  that  she  could  not  be  received 
in  the  state  of  a  royal  guest  on  account  of  the  want  of 
funds.  Elizabeth  nevertheless  went  on  board  the  Dutch  man- 
of-war,  in  the  full  confidence  that  she  should  be  received  by 
her  nephew  with  filial  tenderness.  It  was  likely  enough 
that  Clarendon  did  not  wish  her  to  come  to  England — there 
having  been  the  most  perplexing  disputes  concerning  the 
precedence  of  his  daughter  Anne,  the  lately  acknowledged 
Duchess  of  York,  and  he  of  course  expected  a  fresh  tur- 
moil, as  Elizabeth  clung  to  her  shadowy  rank  of  Queen 
with  great  tenacity.  The  departure  of  the  Queen-mother, 
with  her  daughter  Henrietta,  and  the  death  of  the  Princess 
of  Orange,  had  left  the  field  of  precedence  clear  for  Anne 
Hyde,  as  Duchess  of  York.  And  her  father  did  not  wish 
to  see  her  scorned  as  she  had  recently  been  by  ladies  of 
the  royal  family.  Such  is  the  real  reading  of  the  enigma 
wherefore  Elizabeth  was  repelled  from  England  by  her 
nephew's  minister,  and  welcomed  lovingly  by  her  nephews. 
When  on  board  the  Dutch  man-of-war  she  wrote  a  letter  to 
Clarendon,  not  extant,  in  which  doubtless  she  made  his 
mind  easy,  that  the  unpleasant  scenes  which  had  taken 
place  at  the  English  Court  as  to  the  precedence  of  the 
daughters  of  Charles  I.  and  that  of  his  daughter,  should 
not  be  renewed  by  her.  She  likewise  wrote  to  Eupert,  who 
was  then  at  Vienna,  announcing  officially  the  coronation  to 
the  Emperor.  She  dates  from  between  Delft  and  Delfthaven, 
May  19,  new  style,^  and  in  the  hurry  of  departure,  and  in  the 
confusion  of  initials  between  the  King  and  King  the  envoy, 
the  letter  is  difficult  enough  to  construe.  However,  she  tells 
Rupert  she  has  written  a  propitiatory  letter  to  Chan.,  by 
which  she  means  Lord-Chancellor  Clarendon,  and  that  the 
answer  she  returned  to  the  captain  of  the  little  frigate  was, 

1  Bromley  Papers. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


273 


"  that  she  was  already  shipped,  and  had  taken  farewell  of  all 
at  the  Hague,  public  and  private,  and  that  if  she  were  not  to 
continue  her  voyage  she  would  be  supposed  disaffected  to 
the  King,  which  would  make  her  despised  in  all  places/' 
Then  she  tells  hurriedly  home-news  to  Rupert — how  well 
Sophia  looks,  and  that  his  sister  Elizabeth  is  received  as 
coadjutress  of  the  Protestant  convent  at  Herford  ^ — which 
she  had  forgot  to  tell  him  in  her  letter  just  before  sent. 
"  I  go,''  she  adds,  with  resolution  to  suffer  all  things  con- 
stantly. I  thank  God  He  has  given  me  courage.  I  shall 
not  do  as  poor  niece,  but  will  resolve  on  all  misfortunes.  I 
love  you  ever,  my  dear  Rupert.'' 

The  Queen  safely  landed  at  Margate  in  two  days,  from 
whence  she  went  to  Gravesend,  and  went  down  the  river 
late  in  the  evening  of  May  14/24,  1661,  proceeding  at  once 
from  the  nearest  landing-stairs  to  the  residence  in  Drury 
Lane  which  her  friend.  Lord  Craven,  had  provided  for  her, 
being  his  own  town  dwelling-place,  Drury  House.  Thus 
Elizabeth  came  strictly  incognita,  giving  people  no  oppor- 
tunity of  questioning  why  there  were  no  bonfires,  salutes 
of  cannon,  pageants,  and  processions,  such  as  had  marked 
the  departure  of  the  daughter  of  their  royal  race  forty-seven 
years  before.  The  residence  of  Elizabeth  in  Drury  Lane 
must  not  be  considered  as  bearing  any  analogy  to  the 
present  close  and  squalid  state  of  that  locality.  The  lane 
was  really  an  avenue  of  lovely  elms,  leading  to  one  of  the 
best-kept  gardens  in  London,  within  the  gates  of  which 
Drury  House,  an  Elizabethan  mansion,  was  situated,  which 
stood  greatly  degraded  and  desecrated  until  1807,  when 
part  of  it,  a  public-house,  bearing  her  picture  as  a  sign,  was 
pulled  down ;  but  it  is  said  that  a  large  wing  still  exists, 
forming  part  of  the  dismal  houses  in  Great  Wyld  Street, 
•where,  indeed,  may  be  seen  some  pointed  gables. 

The  intercourse  which  took  place  between  Elizabeth  and 
her  nephews  was  very  affectionate,  though  at  first  private. 

^  Misspelled  Neyford  in  the  Bromley  Letters,  where  this  enigmatical 
epistle,  partly  written  in  the  third  person,  is  remarkably  mangled,  and 
finished  up  by  being  dated  1655.    It  is  a  complete  exercise  for  Vart  de 
verifier  des  dates  ;  but  we  think  the  meaning  is  rightly  given  in  the  text. 
VOL.  VIII.  S 


274 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


She  begged  Charles  II.  to  write  to  her  undutiful  son,  the 
Elector  Charles  Louis,  and  try  to  shame  him  out  of  his  base 
intention  of  continuing  to  withhold  from  her  her  dowager 
provision.  He  replied  by  one  of  his  sophisticated  epistles, 
of  which  Elizabeth  herself  had  received  so  many  specimens. 
Charles  11.  settled  a  noble  annuity  of  £12,000  on  his  aunt, 
and  comforted  her  with  the  assurance  that  he  would  do  his 
best  to  obtain  the  arrears  of  the  pension  settled  on  her  by 
Parliament  at  her  marriage,  c£^20,000  of  which  had  been 
already  recognised,  and  was  in  course  of  payment."^  Affairs 
began  to  look  more  prosperously  on  the  long-harassed  Queen, 
and  she  entered  into  pleasure,  with  the  bachelor  King  her 
nephew  for  her  escort,  with  her  usual  relish.^  The  opening 
of  the  English  Opera-House  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  by  the 
cavalier  poet,  Sir  William  Davenant,  was  one  of  these 
occasions.  The  Siege  of  Rhodes,  written  by  Davenant 
himself,  was  the  spectacle  to  witness  which  the  Queen  of 
Bohemia  and  her  nephew,  Charles  IL,  came  in  state,  2d 
July  1661.  Pepys  mentions  the  opera  as  one  of  pecu- 
liar magnificence  for  scenery  and  decorations  ;  but  however 
great  the  splendour  presented  to  the  eyes  of  the  audience 
might  be,  the  accommodations  provided  for  the  public  were 
but  moderate ;  for  the  royal  party  being  very  late,  and  the 
gallery  uproarious  as  the  scene  did  not  commence  till  the 
King  and  his  aunt  came,  a  board  was  broken  in  the  floor  of 
the  upper  regions,  and  Pepys  was  mightily  diverted  at 
seeing  an  avalanche  of  dirt  descend,  falling  on  the  ladies^ 
necks  and  on  the  gentlemen's  hair.  He  mentions  subse- 
quent visits  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  to  this  popular 
place  of  amusement,  whither  she  went  in  August,  escorted 
by  her  host.  Lord  Craven,  who  served  her  in  the  capa- 
city of  Lord  Chamberlain,  Steward,  Comptroller  of  House- 
hold, Captain  of  Guard,  and  Guards  withal.  Reports  were 
prevalent  in  Germany  and  the  Hague  that  this  devoted 
friend  was  to  be  rewarded  with  the  hand  of  her  eldest 
daughter  Elizabeth  ;  ^  but  that  Princess,  after  facilitating 
the  escape  of  her  brother's  ill-treated  wife  Charlotte, 


^  Drake's  Pari.        ,         ^  Pepys'  Diary. 


^  Guhrauer. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


275 


had  retired  to  the  Westphalian  Convent  of  Hervorden,  or 
Herford,  of  which  she  afterwards  became  abbess.  The 
reports  that  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  was  the  wife  of  Lord 
Craven  were  checked  by  the  rumour  that  he  was  in  love 
with  her  daughter,  who  was  of  a  more  suitable  age.  Cer- 
tainly his  generosity  to  the  Queen  was  as  likely  to  proceed 
from  filial  devotion  as  any  other.  However  this  might  be, 
the  gallant  Lord  Craven  died  a  bachelor,  and  the  younger 
Elizabeth  a  religieuse.  We  have  always  found  German 
traditions  and  records  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  and  her 
children  far  more  entitled  to  credit  than  the  slight  notices 
in  English  political  history,  vague  and  distorted  as  they  are. 

A  charge  has  been  made  against  the  nephews  of  Eli- 
zabeth of  treating  her  with  neglect  and  unkindness  dur- 
ing the  remnant  of  her  days  passed  in  England.  And  this 
has  been  transferred  from  the  interested  pages  of  political 
history  to  those  of  her  biographers,^  just  as  if  it  were  true. 
She  and  her  family  gave  a  different  account  of  her  treat- 
ment, and,  of  course,  they  knew  best.  "  I  am  glad  your 
Majesty  has  so  much  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  the  King 
your  nephew,''  says  her  daughter  Sophia  in  a  letter  of 
14th  August  1661,  "which  must  be  still  more  pleasant 
to  him.''  There  is  simplicity  in  this  phrase,  but  it  is  con- 
clusive ;  nor  is  it  solitary,  the  correspondence  of  all  her 
children  is  in  the  same  tone. 

Another  contest  occurred  between  the  Queen  and  her 
graceless  son  the  Elector.^  She  had  hired  the  palace  in 
Leicester  Fields  of  Lord  Leicester,  as  her  future  residence 
in  England ;  it  was  to  be  vacated  by  the  Dutch  Ambassa- 
dor at  the  ensuing  Christmas,  when  she  was  to  take  posses- 
sion and  furnish  it.  There  was  no  expense  needed  for  the 
latter  purpose,  excepting  the  transportation  of  furniture 
which  she  possessed  at  the  Rhenen  hunting-palace,  and  at 
Sedan,  the  thoughtful  providence  of  her  husband  Frederic 
having  saved  some  from  the  devastation  at  Heidelberg,  and 
deposited  it  with  his  friends  and  relations  there  for  her  use. 
Can  it  be  believed  that  the  Elector  actually  endeavoured 

'  Miss  Benger,  &c. 

2  Additional  MSS.,  British  Museum,  George  IV. 


276 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


to  traverse  his  mother  when  she  wanted  these  old  things, 
and  tried  moreover  to  spirit  up  her  creditors  at  the  Hague 
and  the  Rhenen,  to  prevent  the  removal  of  aught  belonging 
to  her?  The  creditors  were  much  kinder.  As  to  her  hus- 
band's relatives  at  Sedan,  they  honourably  fulfilled  his  known 
intentions,  and  forwarded  her  packages  to  England,  despite 
of  her  son's  restrictions.^ 

Notwithstanding  these  disputes  and  wranglings,  she  was 
canvassed  by  her  son,  the  Elector,  who  never  lost  sight  of 
his  own  interest  in  the  least  affair,  for  her  presentation  at 
the  Charter-House  School  on  behalf  of  a  young  German  : — 

"  To  THE  Queen  or  Bohemia.^ 
"  Madame, — I  am  entreated  by  Simon  Altoflf,  whose  faithful  service  to 
the  King  my  father  of  happy  memory  is  not  unknown  to  your  Majesty, 
humbly  to  beg  your  Majesty's  gracious  recommendation  to  the  governors 
of  Sutton's  Hospital  in  behalf  of  his  godson  and  kinsman,  that  he  may  be 
admitted  into  a  scholar's  place  in  the  school  of  the  said  hospital,  where  (as 
he  is  informed)  your  Majesty  hath  the  nominature  of  one  in  your  turn. 
The  good  service  he  hath  done  me  these  many  years  past  makes  me  the 
more  earnestly  beseech  your  Majesty  in  all  humility  to  grant  him  this 
favour,  who  will  be  ever  ready  to  deserve  it  with  his  blood  when  your 
commands  will  require  it.  And  I  shall  take  it  for  no  less  sign  of  your  con- 
stant goodness  to  your  Majesty's  most  humble  and  most  obedient  son  and 
servant,  Charles.'' 

He  could  write  humbly  enough  when  he  wanted  anything. 
The  Governors  of  the  Charter-House  can  best  tell  whether 
any  young  German,  whose  Christian  name  was  Simon, 
appears  on  their  books  in  1661;  for,  though  quoted  as  an 
incident  in  the  scanty  records  of  her  latter  life  in  England, 
there  is  no  other  means  of  guessing  whether  the  Queen  of 
Bohemia  recommended  the  scholar  to  the  Charter-House.^ 

Meantime  the  Queen  began  to  take  her  part  in  public 
life  as  the  first  lady  of  the  English  Court.  Immediately 
after  ambassadors  had  complimented  King  Charles,  they 
hastened  to  Craven  House,  where  she  was  surrounded  by  a 
brilliant  circle  of  the  female  nobility.  Durazzo,  an  illus- 
trious Genoese,^  sent  as  Ambassador  Extraordinary  on  the 

^  Rusdorf — Bromley  Letters.  ^  Bromley  Letters. 

^  Elizabeth  had  been  given  presentations  by  the  founder  in  her  youth. 
The  Charter- House  is  open  to  some  foreign  scholars. 
*  Middlehill  MSS.,  belonging  to  Sir  T.  Phillipps,  Bart. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


277' 


Restoration,  gives  a  lively  picture  of  Elizabeth's  grace  and 
fascination  ;  he  dwells  on  the  hearty  manner  in  which  she 
expressed  her  happiness  at  seeing  herself,  after  many  suffer- 
ings, restored'  to  the  enjoyment  of  her  appanages,  her 
rank,  and  to  some  authority,''  by  which  the  Genoese 
means  the  receptions  she  gave  in  her  evening  drawing- 
rooms.  On  Catherine  of  Braganza,  her  nephew's  betrothed 
Queen,  would  soon  devolve  the  duty  of  receiving  the  noble 
ladies  of  Great  Britain ;  to  her  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia  had, 
in  the  course  of  the  summer,  written  a  congratulatory  letter 
as  her  future  majesty's  most  loving  aunt. 

The  improved  circumstances  of  Elizabeth  gave  her  spirit  to 
send  to  France  for  many  trifles,  and  her  agent  mentions 
her  orders  of  etuis  with  scissors,  and  the  continuation  of  the 
romance  of  Pharamond,  communicating,  moreover,  the  im- 
portant fact  of  Parisian  fashions,  that  sable  muffs  were 
still  worn,  but  not  so  large  as  of  late. 

Leicester  House  was  at  last  finished  and  furnished  for  the 
reception  of  its  royal  tenant,  who,  through  several  pre- 
ceding months,  had  been  the  guest  of  the  ever-faithful  Lord 
Craven,  with  every  want  and  wish  anticipated  by  his  pro- 
vident care.  She  had  better  have  remained  thus  during 
the  rest  of  the  winter ;  yet  it  was  not  cold  that  killed  her, 
but  an  unhealthy  damp  warmth,  which  had  prevailed  during 
the  winters  of  1661  and  1662.  Apple-trees  were  in  blos- 
som, and  the  whole  country  blooming  like  spring,  every 
one  foreboding  the  plague  ;  fasting  and  prayer  were  pre- 
scribed by  Parliament  as  a  remedy,  nevertheless  general  ill- 
health  prevailed.i  The  Queen  took  possession  of  the  newly- 
built  ^  Leicester  House,  20th  January,  and  Immediately  was 
seized  with  a  violent  catarrh  and  inflammation  of  the  lungs  ; 
perhaps  the  deceitful  warmth  of  the  atmosphere  caused  her 
to  neglect  these  symptoms,  until  the  breaking  of  a  blood- 
vessel revealed  too  truly  her  danger,  the  announcement  of 
which  she  met  with  her  usual  high  courage. 

Rupert  had  returned  from  Vienna,  and  was  near  her ;  ^ 

1  Pepys. 

2  Diary  of  Anne  Clifford,  Countess  of  Cumberland,  who  attributed  the 
death  of  Elizabeth  to  this  circumstance. 

^  Ibid.,  and  Theatre  of  Europe. 


278 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


she  sent  by  him  a  request  to  see  the  King  and  her  godson 
the  Duke  of  York  :  she  took  a  firm  and  affectionate  leave 
of  them,  having  obtained  a  promise  of  the  King  that  he 
would  devote  the  remaining  arrears  due  to  her  from  the  civil 
list  to  the  payment  of  her  creditors  at  the  Hague.  Charles 
11.  having  carefully  fulfilled  a  like  promise  that  he  made  to 
his  sister  Mary,  Princess  of  Orange,  by  paying  her  long- 
delayed  portion  to  her  son,^  makes  it  probable  that  he  kept 
faith  with  his  aunt,  for  we  hear  no  more  of  these  miserable 
debts  in  any  letter  or  memoir  of  the  times. 

Elizabeth  made  her  will,  leaving,  after  the  distribution 
of  some  jewels  among  her  other  children,  Prince  Rupert 
residuary  legatee,  chiefly  of  family  papers,  which  have 
become  the  property  of  history  on  their  publication  in  the 
last  century,  by  his  descendant  Sir  George  Bromley.^  The 
faithful  Lord  Craven  was  not  forgotten  ;  some  noble  family 
portraits  were  bequeathed  to  him.^  Her  death  took  place 
on  Valentine's  Eve,  1661-62,  just  as  forty-nine  years  had 
passed  from  the  joyous  season  when  she  became  the  bride 
of  the  Elector  Palatine,  with  the  most  elaborate  and  expen- 
sive festivities  ever  known  in  England.  Her  friend  of  the 
House  of  Erskine  declares  that  she  had  become  in  the  last 
years  of  her  life  quite  inert,  which  had  a  bad  effect  on  her 
constitution  after  accustoming  herself  to  constant  and  vio- 
lent exercise  in  the  open  air.  The  great  expenses  of  an 
equestrian  establishment  at  the  Hague,  wholly  inconsistent 
with  her  extreme  poverty,  doubtless  was  the  cause  of  this 
change  in  her  habits. 

Elizabeth  died  a  duteous  daughter  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 

1  State-Paper  MS. 

*  Badly  edited  as  the  Bromley  Papers  were,  they  have  cast  great  light  on 
these  pages. 

2  The  present  Lord  Craven  has  occasionally  permitted  them  to  be  ex- 
hibited at  the  Institution  in  Pall-Mall,  the  lighted  view  of  which  usually 
forms  one  of  the  attractions  of  the  London  season  ;  but  historical  pictures 
are  better  viewed  by  daylight.  Here  we  remember  to  have  seen  fine  whole- 
lengths  of  Elizabeth's  favourite  sons,  the  martial  Rupert  and  the  handsome 
Maurice,  so  lifelike  in  the  perfection  of  portraiture  eftected  in  that  century, 
that  whosoever  looks  upon  them  may  consider  they  have  seen  these  cele- 
brated men.  Combe  Abbey,  being  the  property  of  the  House  of  Craven, 
the  pictures  of  Elizabeth  and  her  family  are  very  suitably  deposited  there. 
Combe  Abbey  was  sold  by  Lucy,  heiress  of  the  House  of  Harrington,  to 
Lady  Craven  in  1622  for  £36,000. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


279 


land ;  she  received  the  sacrament  with  fervent  piety  before 
she  expired.  Her  illness  having  rapidly  tended  to  dropsy, 
she  did  not  die  in  her  bed,  but  sitting  In  an  arm-chair  ;  her 
intellects  were  bright,  and  her  calmness  unruffled  to  the 
last  moment.  After  embalming,  her  body  was  removed  by 
night  to  the  adjacent  Somerset  House,  then,  like  Whitehall, 
in  the  most  ruinous  condition,  fitter  for  Elizabeth's  occupa- 
tion dead  than  living;  indeed,  she  had  utterly  refused  to 
occupy  either  during  her  llfe.^ 

Prince  Rupert,  who  was  then  and  afterwards  In  a  naval 
command  In  England,  arranged  a  torchlight  water  proces- 
sion at  midnight  on  the  bosom  of  the  wintry  Thames,  of 
barges  covered  with  black  cloth,  to  the  jetty  called  King 
Edward  (the  Confessor's)  Bridge.  There  the  funeral  cor- 
tege landed,  as  many  a  royal  procession  had  done  pre- 
viously, and  pursued  Its  way,  with  very  respectable  funeral 
pomp,  by  the  light  of  flambeaus,  to  the  abbey.  Prince  Rupert 
being  accompanied  by  two  dukes  and  twenty-one  other 
peers  of  England  and  Scotland.  They  laid  Elizabeth  near 
her  father  in  the  royal  vault,  under  Henry  VII.'s  chapel. 
After  the  ecclesiastics  of  the  abbey  had  finished  the  Impres- 
sive burial-service,  Garter  proclaimed  her  titles,  the  same 
which  were  inscribed  on  her  coffin,  to  the  following  eff'ect: 
— "  The  most  serene  and  powerful  Princess  EHzabeth, 
Queen  of  Bohemia,  relict  of  Frederic,  by  the  grace  of  God 
King  of  Bohemia,  Archsewer,  and  Prince  Elector  of  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire,  only  daughter  of  James  [I.],  sister 
of  Charles  I.,  and  aunt  of  Charles  II.,  Kings  of  Great 
Britain,  France^  and  Ireland,  who  most  piously  fell  asleep 
in  the  Lord  on  the  XIII.  day  of  February,  in  the  mansion 
of  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  in  the  year  of  Christ  1661-62,  in 
the  sixty-sixth  of  her  age.''^  A  general  mourning  was 
ordered  by  Charles  11.  for  his  aunt,  which  lasted  until  the 
arrival  of  his  Queen  in  the  following  April.^ 

Five  out  of  her  thirteen  children  had  preceded  Elizabeth 
to  the  grave;  but  she  left  a  numerous  progeny,  most  of  whom 

1  Bromley  Letters. 

2  Additional  MSS.,  British  Museum— Lord  Chamberlain's  MSS. 
'  Pepys. 


280 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


were  on  the  worst  terms  with  each  other.  Her  eldest  son 
and  uncompromising  enemy,  Charles  Louis,  Elector  Pala- 
tine, lost  his  bigamous  mate,  Louise  de  Degenfeldt,  in  1677  ; 
by  her  he  had  a  numerous  family,  but  none  eligible  to  the 
succession.  His  son  by  his  first  wife  was  sickly  and  fragile  y 
every  one  foretold  his  death  long  before  it  happened. 

Charles  Louis,  expecting  the  extinction  of  his  line,  made 
interest  with  his  sister  Elizabeth,  then  the  Protestant  Abbess 
of  Herford,  to  persuade  his  ill-treated  wife  to  a  regular 
divorce,  to  enable  him  to  marry  again.  To  this  Elizabeth 
consented,  meeting  her  brother  for  consultation  at  the 
Baths  of  Schwalbach.  Likewise  his  son  Charles,  whose 
marriage  was  unfruitful,  entreated  his  mother  to  consent, 
Charlotte  of  Hesse  was  still  at  Cassel,  whither  she  had  re- 
treated, and,  supported  by  her  nephew,  the  Landgrave  of 
Hesse,  received  all  these  proposals  with  contemptuous 
refusal.  It  is  said  that  the  whole  family  loaded  the  Abbess 
Elizabeth  with  reproaches  for  encouraging  what  they  called 
an  infamous  transaction.  But  Elizabeth  meekly  declared 
"  that  she  foresaw  terrible  miseries  in  store  for  her  loved 
fatherland,  the  Palatinate — the  people  of  which  had  been  so 
dismally  tormented  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War."  Then  the 
family  demanded  Rupert,  the  next  heir,  to  come  and  live 
at  one  of  the  appanages  of  the  Palatinate.  Rupert,  who 
was  remarkably  comfortable  at  Windsor  Castle  as  constable, 
although,  as  he  said,  the  country  people  took  him  and  his 
faithful  great  black  dog  for  wizards,''  declared  he  would 
not  come  ;  he  had  been  insulted  by  Charles  Louis,  who 
might  do  what  he  pleased  for  an  heir — he  should  not  have 
him."  1 

The  Elector  Charles  Louis  died  the  year  after  this  dis- 
cussion, 1680.  His  ill-treated  wife,  Charlotte  of  Hesse, 
survived  him  several  years.  The  upshot  was,  to  use  the 
words  of  Henry  Sidney  in  his  Diary,  The  Elector's  son 
hath  no  children,  and  the  Palatinate  will  go  to  the  Duke 
of  Neuberg,  a  Papist."  ^    And  such  was  really  the  case, 

^  Guhrauer's  Elizabeth,  Princess  Palatine.  Additional  MSS.,  King's 
Library.   Bromley  Letters. 

2  Diary  and  Correspondence  of  Henry  Sidney,  Lord  Romney,  edited  by 
Mr  Biencowe,  vol.  i.,  p.  97. 


ELIZABETH  STUART. 


281 


but  not  until  all  the  horrors  it  had  suffered  in  the  Thirty 
Years'  War  had  been  renewed  by  reason  of  Louis  XIV. 
laying  claim  to  the  succession  on  behalf  of  his  sister-in-law, 
Elizabeth  Charlotte,  Duchess  of  Orleans.  Turenne,  who 
was  commissioned  to  execute  the  most  devastating  war  of 
modern  times,  was  of  the  same  family  as  the  Bouillons  of 
Sedan  and  La  Tour  d'Auvergne,  who  had  been  all  leagued 
for  Protestantism  with  the  unfortunate  King  of  Bohemia, 
as  we  have  shown  in  the  course  of  this  biography.  Turenne 
has  received  far  more  hero-worship  than  his  due,  for  this  is 
a  detestable  fact. 

Of  the  death  of  Prince  Maurice  no  tongue  could  ever 
tell;  his  ship  was  never  seen  since  he  parted  with  the 
squadron  of  Prince  Rupert  at  Jamaica.^  Prince  Edward, 
who  had  resided  In  France  since  his  adoption  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion,  died  there  not  long  after  his  mother  in 
1663,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-eight.  He  left  three  daugh- 
ters, of  whom  more  will  be  said.  Thus,  out  of  a  group  of 
seven  stalwart  sons,  Elizabeth  Stuart  and  Frederic  V.  left 
not  one  grandson  to  represent  their  line.  Of  their  surviving 
daughters,  Elizabeth  died  Protestant  Abbess  of  Herford,  in 
Westphalia;  Louisa,  at  the  great  age  of  eighty-four,  in  1709, 
died  Roman  Catholic  Abbess  of  Maubisson.  As  for  Sophia, 
her  lineage,  as  the  nearest  Protestant  heirs  to  the  throne  of 
Great  Britain,  reign  here.  How  that  succession  took  place 
the  succeeding  biography  will  tell. 

^  It  is  curious  that,  while  these  sheets  were  passing  through  the  press,  an 
island  is  announced  as  discovered  in  the  East  India  Archipelago  of  30,000 
Christian  souls  professing  the  Heidelberg  Catechism. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOYER 


CHAPTEE  I. 

SUMMARY 

Sophia  born  the  twelfth  child  of  Frederic,  King  of  Bohemia,  and  his 
Queen,  Elizabeth  Stuart — Poverty  of  her  parents — Long-delayed  baptism 
— States  of  Friesland  her  godfathers — Their  donation — Sophia's  resem- 
blance to  Mary  Queen  of  Scots — Her  joyous  temper — Loses  her  father 
in  her  third  year — Brought  up  at  Rhenen — Admiration  of  Descartes — 
— His  flattering  letters — Her  accomplishments — Removed  to  the  court  of 
her  brother  the  Elector  Palatine — Is  state  governess  to  his  daughter — 
Sophia  captivates  the  heir  of  the  Emperor — His  early  death — Sophia  in- 
volved in  the  quarrels  of  her  brother  and  his  wife  Charlotte  of  Hesse — 
Manages  to  keep  in  with  her  brother — Sophia  returns  to  her  mother  at 
the  Hague — Accompanied  by  her  charge  Elizabeth  Charlotte — Wooed  by 
Prince  Adolph  des  Deuxponts — Cromwell  breaks  the  marriage — Engaged 
to  Ernest  Auguste  of  Brunswick — Opposition  of  her  mother — Sophia 
marries  him  by  her  brother's  commands — Her  mother  reconciled — Asks 
Charles  11.  to  give  Ernest  the  Garter — Birth  of  Sophia's  eldest  son  at 
Hanover — Her  husband  becomes  Bishop  of  Osnaburg — Sophia's  farewell 
to  her  mother — Their  letters — Her  niece  domesticated  with  her — Death 
of  her  mother — Residence  at  the  Castle  of  Iburg — Birth  of  her  children 
— Extraordinary  family  arrangements  of  the  Brunswick  princes. 

Born  at  the  very  lowest  ebb  of  lier  parents'  adverse  fortunes, 
the  Princess  Sophia,  as  the  twelfth  child  of  Frederic  V., 
Elector  Palatine,  and  Elizabeth  Stuart,  came  into  a  world 
where  her  presence  seemed  as  little  needed  as  It  was  desired. 
Her  baptism  was  long  delayed,  on  account  of  the  expense 
of  performing  it  "  decently" — meaning,  with  the  expensive 
pomp  and  parade  usual  in  the  seventeenth  century.  Whether 
the  little  lady  had  lived  or  died,  she  would  have  equally 
caused  embarrassment,  as  the  funds  for  princely  burial  would 


286 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


have  been  as  difficult  to  be  raised  as  for  baptism.  The 
troublesome  rank  of  her  father  and  mother,  as  titular  King 
and  Queen  of  Bohemia,  made  all  these  etiquettes  the  more 
expensive.  Moreover,  having  christened  eleven  preceding 
children,  family  names  had  become  scarce.  However,  Eliza- 
beth of  Bohemia  once  had  a  sister  whose  effigy  may  be  seen 
in  Westminster  Abbey  at  this  hour — a  curious  specimen  of 
baby  costume  in  the  quaintest  of  marble  caps,  resting  in  the 
queerest  of  marble  cradles,  covered  with  a  fringed  marble 
counterpane.  After  this  small  sister,  Elizabeth  called  her 
infant  Sophia.  It  is  a  name  which,  since  that  era,  has  taken 
a  place  in  the  baptismal  nomenclature  of  this  country;  but 
it  is  derived  from  Eastern  Christendom,  and  was  brought  to 
the  shores  of  the  Baltic  by  the  Sclavonic  race  which  colon- 
ised Mecklenburg,  of  which  country  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia's 
grandmother  Sophia,  Queen  of  Denmark,  was  a  princess. 
Heavenly  Wisdom  is  the  interpretation  of  the  Christian  name 
Sophia,  and  the  Greek  Gnostics  impersonified  the  quality  as 
the  youngest  Eon  of  God.  The  metropolitan  church  of  that 
down-trodden  branch  of  Christianity,  the  Greek  faith,  now 
desecrated  at  Constantinople,  was  neither  dedicated  to  saint 
or  martyr,  but  to  the  abstract  idea  of  the  Eon  Sophia. 

The  little  Princess  was  born  at  the  Hague,  October  13, 
1630.  But  it  was  not  until  May  30,  1631,  that  the  resident 
English  minister  was  able  to  announce  to  his  court  that  "  the 
youngest  daughter  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  was  christened 
at  the  Hague,  by  the  name  of  Sophia.  Her  godfathers  were 
the  States  of  Friesland,  and  her  godmothers  Madame 
Hardenberg  and  Madame  de  Brederode,  who  each  of  them 
gave  £30  to  be  distributed  in  the  nursery,  as  the  godfathers 
did  £40.''^  But  these  magnificent  merchants  did  better,  for 
they  added  as  a  gift  to  their  godchild  a  patent  durante 
vita^  securing  to  her  a  life-annuity  of  £46 — a  modicum 
which  kept  her  from  the  worst  distresses  she  was  doomed 
to  experience  in  early  life.  Her  education  commenced  very 
early.  If  she  had  not  arrived  in  this  world  at  the  most 
auspicious  time  for  endowment  with  wealth  and  territory, 
she  brought  with  her  what  was  a  great  deal  better — the 
^  Ellis's  Historical  Letters,  2d  series,  p.  264, 


SOPHIxi,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


287 


most  joyous  of  tempers.  Gentle  and  gay,  at  the  same  time 
she  possessed  naturally  that  species  of  tact  only  seen  in 
children  of  great  talent,  which  adapts  its  display  to  the  pre- 
cise time  when  playfulness  is  agreeable  to  those  in  authority. 
Sophia's  early  diplomacy,  added  to  her  beauty,  made  her  the 
darling  and  plaything,  not  only  of  her  sad  sire,  but  of  her 
ill-natured  brother  Charles  Louis,  who  never,  even  in  his 
most  cynical  moods,  was  able  to  resist  the  infantile  wiles  of 
his  sister  Sophia  It  was  supposed  that  she  was  the  only 
living  creature  for  whom  he  ever  felt  an  emotion  of  dis- 
interested attachment ;  on  which  account  it  will  be  found 
that  Sophia  was  frequently  linked  to  his  changing  fortunes 
through  life.  She  was  nursed  at  the  country  palace  atRhenen, 
under  the  care  of  Sybella  de  Ketler,  who  had  been  the 
governess  of  the  father  and  of  all  the  children  of  the  Pala- 
tine family.  There  her  unfortunate  father  gave  her  his 
last  embrace,  with  his  other  little  ones,  when  she  had  only 
just  entered  her  third  year,  at  the  time  when  he  unwillingly 
left  his  beloved  family  to  join  the  campaign  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus  in  the  Palatinate,  which  was  indeed  most  disas- 
trous to  him,  as  has  been  detailed  in  the  preceding  bio- 
graphy. Sophia  never  saw  him  more,  and  she  was  thus 
left  fatherless  before  she  was  conscious  of  her  great  loss. 

Sophia's  personal  attendant  was  a  young  girl  with  whom 
she  formed  an  attachment  lasting  through  life,  well  known 
in  her  letters,  and  those  of  her  daughter  and  niece,  as 
Madame  Harling.  All  the  children  of  the  Palatine  family 
were  accustomed,  with  their  companions  and  attendants, 
to  take  robust  exercise  in  the  parks  and  chases  of  the 
Ehenen  palace.  Personal  labour  in  the  gardens  Sophia 
was  taught  from  her  infancy  to  consider  pleasure — happy  in 
being  so  taught;  for  when  sorrow  and  unkindness  afflicted 
her,  she  always  found  consolation  among  flowers  and  trees 
in  her  own  peculiar  paradise.  She  lived  in  gardens,  delight- 
ing in  the  thrice-blessed  culture  of  the  earth,  and,  moreover, 
died  in  the  garden  she  loved  best.  The  taste  which  contri- 
buted so  much  to  her  happiness,  and  which  diff'used  such 
inestimable  influences  to  all  beneath  her,  was  derived  from 
her  Stuart  ancestors.    It  was  an  hereditary  tendency.  Mary 


288 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


Queen  of  Scots,  as  we  have  shown,  never  came  to  a  strange 
place  without  planting  trees.  We  have  seen  it  carefully 
inculcated  in  the  education  of  her  mother  by  James  1.  The 
descendants  of  Sophia  brought  it  back  to  our  Island,  and 
kept  in  fashion  the  love  for  horticulture  and  pleasant  gardens, 
almost  peculiar  to  the  English,  which  had  been  cherished 
by  the  Stuarts,  but  which  would  have  been  neglected  and 
despised  by  their  worldly-minded  courtiers  when  the  elder 
line  of  sovereigns  sank  under  the  effects  of  slandering  pens 
and  tongues. 

Among  all  her  sisters,  Sophia  most  resembled  her  ances- 
tress Mary  Queen  of  Scots  in  elegant  height  of  stature,  deli- 
cacy of  features,  limbs,  and  complexion,  and,  above  all,  in  the 
sweet  hilarity  and  charm  of  happy  temper  which  fascinated 
and  delighted  all  that  approached  her.  Both  her  mother 
and  her  learned  sister,  Elizabeth,  took  infinite  pleasure  in 
teaching  this  gracious  and  lovely  child.  She  became  nearly 
as  skilful  with  the  pencil  as  her  sister  Louisa,  though  her 
career. of  after  activity  prevented  her  from  sharing  her 
artistical  renown.  Her  master  was  the  same,  the  kind  and 
faithful  Gerard  Honthorst,  the  protege  of  their  grandfather 
and  uncle,  James  I.  and  Charles  I.  Sophia  was  the  com- 
panion of  Louisa  in  her  studies  of  the  glorious  school  of 
Flemish  painting,  as  she  was  of  her  sister  Elizabeth  in  her 
deep  learning,  under  the  care  of  Descartes.  Those  who  have 
read  the  letters  of  Sophia^  will  remember  that  she  occa- 
sionally illustrates  natural  objects,  when  mentioned  by  her, 
with  a  sketch  by  her  ever-ready  pencil.  A  change  had 
been  introduced  as  to  preceptors  since  young  princesses 
were  first  educated  as  learned  women.  Instead  of  the  old 
bishops,  who  guided  the  thoughts  of  the  Plantagenet  prin- 
cesses, those  of  the  reformed  faith  contracted  friendships 
with  philosophers  or  savants,  such  as  Descartes,  and  even 
Bayle — men  who  formed  a  sort  of  elder  class  to  the  savants 
and  Encyclopedists  by  whom  the  French  Revolution  of  the 
Terror  was  heralded. 

At  sixteen,  the  beauty  and  "  royal  grace''  of  the  Stuart 


^  Edited  by  Ilten. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


289 


line  were  considered  to  shine  pre-eminent  in  Sophia.  She 
likewise  was  renowned  for  her  intellectual  culture,  having 
imbibed  the  philosophy  of  Descartes  through  the  medium  of 
the  learned  recluse  her  sister  Elizabeth.  Descartes  confided 
all  his  letters  to  the  latter,  when  she  was  resident  near  Berlin/ 
to  the  hands  of  the  fair  Sophia  ;  and  such  was  the  friendship 
established  between  the  sage  and  this  young  Princess,  that 
various  of  his  notes  and  letters,  printed  in  the  last  edition  of 
his  works,  are  really  and  truly  addressed  to  her,  and  not  to 
either  of  her  elder  sisters.  The  following  letter  is  a  tolerably 
strong  dose  of  personal  flattery,  to  be  exhibited  by  a  philo- 
sopher ; — certes  that  philosopher  was  a  Frenchman  ! 

When  angels  vouchsafe  to  visit  men,  they  can  scarcely 
leave  behind  them  traces  of  deeper  admiration  and  respect 
than  have  been  impressed  upon  my  mind  by  the  letter  where- 
with you  have  favoured  me.  I  see  by  the  same,  that  not 
only  do  your  highness's  features  deserve  comparison  with 
angels,  and  to  be  preferred  as  a  pattern  for  those  painters 
who  represent  beauty  celestial,  but  the  charms  of  your  mind 
are  such  that  philosophers  are  compelled  to  confess  their 
excellence.''  ^ 

Such  were  the  notes  of  admiration  that  preceded  her 
entrance  into  the  princely  station  she  was  born  to  fill,  of 
which  her  mother's  miserable  residence  at  the  Hague  was  but 
the  mocking  shadow.  After  the  restoration  of  her  brother, 
Charles  Louis,  to  the  Lower  Palatinate,  and  his  subsequent 
marriage  with  Charlotte  of  Hesse,  he  formed  a  court  and 
household  ;  and  following  the  undeviating  rules  of  royal 
etiquette,  he  invited  his  eldest  sister,  Elizabeth,  to  hold  the 
office  of  first  lady  to  the  Electress.  On  the  birth  of  his 
daughter,  he  gave  Sophia  that  of  State  Governess  to  the 

1  At  Clossen,  .with  her  father's  sister,  the  Dowager  Electress  of  Bran- 
denburg. 

2  Vie  de  Descartes  et  Lettres.  Fourth  edition.  That  philosopher  sent 
his  packets  of  letters  to  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  then  absent  and  in  disgrace 
with  her  mother,  through  the  hands  of  her  sisters  Louisa  and  Sophia,  and 
often  adds  a  complimentary  epistle  on  their  beauties  and  virtues.  It  is 
scarcely  possible  to  gather  the  least  fact  from  his  letters  to  Elizabeth, 
excepting  that  shp  had  lamented  the  great  coldness  of  Christina  of  Sweden 
to  her. 


VOL.  VIII. 


T 


290 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


young  Princess  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  the  practical  duties  of 
governess  being  exercised  by  her  friend  Mademoiselle  Har- 
ling.  The  poverty  under  which  the  daughters  of  the  Queen 
of  Bohemia  had  been  oppressed  from  their  infancy  was 
now  alleviated  by  a  certain  stipend.  Although  the  re- 
venues of  the  long-vexed  Palatinate  had  been,  during  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  terribly  impaired,  yet  the  Princesses 
found  their  circumstances  greatly  improved,  and  their  rank 
acknowledged  among  their  equals.  Thus  passed  away  two 
or  three  years,  which  were  perhaps  the  happiest  in  Sophia's 
life. 

That  their  mother  wrote  to  them  from  the  Hague  every 
week,  may  be  ascertained  by  her  message  in  one  of  her 
letters  to  Lord  Craven,  in  the  winter  of  1653,  then  sent, 
as  her  ambassador,  to  Heidelberg,  to  extract,  if  possible, 
some  cash  from  the  Elector.  She  says,  I  write  not  this 
week  to  my  daughters ;  you  may  tell  them  so — for  mere 
laziness."'  ^ 

About  the  same  time  it  must  have  been  that  Sophia,  then 
at  the  age  of  three-and-twenty,  made  the  important  con- 
quest of  the  heir  of  Ferdinand  HI., — a  Prince  whose  identity 
under  the  high-sounding  title  of  Ferdinand  IV.  is  some- 
what obscure  to  the  world  in  general.  He  had,  however, 
gone  through  the  ceremonials  of  election  to  the  throne  of 
Hungary  in  1647,  and  was  titular  king  thereof  by  the 
appellation  of  Ferdinand  IV.  He  had  likewise  been  elected 
King  of  the  Eomans  by  the  German  Diet,  in  anticipation 
of  succeeding  his  father  as  Emperor,  which  he  never  did. 
He  was  a  prince  of  a  kind  and  generous  disposition,  learned, 
sensitive,  and  a  great  admirer  of  talent  in  woman.  Although 
religious  and  moral  in  conduct,  he  was  so  little  bigoted  as 
to  venture  into  the  stronghold  of  Calvinism,  at  his  friend's 
court  of  Heidelberg,  with  his  heart  free  and  his  hand  disen- 
gaged. His  heart  he  lost  at  first  sight  to  Sophia,  his  hand 
he  was  ready  to  offer.  Flow  the  belligerent  religions  pro- 
fessed by  the  high  contracting  parties  would  have  been 
arranged,  no  mortal  can  tell,  for  before  the  matter  had 

^  Feder's  Life  of  the  Electress  Sophia. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


291 


advanced  farther  than  the  unusual  incident  of  an  Emperor's 
son  losing  his  heart  in  real  love-earnest  to  a  portionless 
Protestant  princess — death  stepped  in  to  forbid  the  bans. 
The  portrait  of  the  young  King  of  Hungary  was  long  to  be 
seen  at  Heidelberg.  Sophia's  niece  and  friend,  Elizabeth 
Charlotte,  thus  speaks  of  it :  ''I  often  heard  in  my  youth 
that  King  Ferdinand  IV.  was  in  love  with  my  aunt  Sophia 
— death  alone  prevented  him  from  marrying  her.  His 
portrait  is  in  Heidelberg,  in  the  Glass  Saloon.  His  com- 
plexion was  very  fine,  white  and  red,  but  for  all  that  his 
features  were  very  ugly.''  ^ 

Ferdinand  IV.  died  some  time  in  July  1654.  Vienna 
was  shaken  by  a  tremendous  earthquake  occurring  quite 
unexpectedly  on  the  day  of  his  death  ;  and  another  cir- 
cumstance took  place  which  was  thought  worth  noting  by 
the  superstitious.^  Ferdinand  IV.  had  a  tame  eagle  that 
had  lived  w^th  him  from  his  childhood,  more  than  tw^enty 
years,  seemingly  quite  reconciled  to  his  confinement.  Either 
afilicted  by  the  absence  of  his  master,  who  was  expiring,  or 
disturbed  by  the  earthquake,  the  eagle  broke  his  chain,  and 
soared  upward  to  the  highest  tower  on  the  Imperial  palace. 
Here  all  the  birds,  small  and  great,  in  the  vicinity,  came 
flocking  and  wheeling  about  him,  but  the  feathered  king- 
took  no  notice  of  them.  Just  as  the  spirit  of  Ferdinand 
IV.  departed,  the  eagle  uttered  a  wild  scream,  and,  darting 
upwards  in  the  air,  was  lost  to  sight  in  an  instant,  and 
never  seen  again. 

The  German  Diet  met  January  1654-5  to  elect  Leopold  1. 
King  of  the  Eomans.  The  dates  of  the  shortlived  Ferdin- 
and's dignities  and  death  nearly  define  the  period  of  his 
attachment  to  Sophia.  At  the  Hague,  the  seat  of  civil 
and  religious  opposition,  the  son  of  the  Emperor  could 
not  have  met  her.  But  when  she  was  holding  office  at  her 
brother's  court,  it  was  very  likely,  for  Charles  Louis,  after  his 
restoration,  affected  great  loyalty  to  the  Emperor  Ferdinand 
III.,  and  was  admitted  to  intimacy  with  the  Imperial  family, 

1  Letters  of  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  Duchess  of  Orleans,  to  her  brother's 
daughter,  edited  by  Louisa  de  Degenfeldt. 
^  Thurloe's  Letters,  August  4,  1654, 


292 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


probably  owing  to  the  friendship  his  brother  Eupert  had 
formed  with  them  w^hen  prisoner  at  Vienna  and  Presburg 
for  two  or  three  years.^ 

Throughout  the  year  1654  both  Sophia  and  her  sister 
EHzabeth  suffered  cruel  perplexity  owing  to  the  quarrels 
of  their  brother,  the  Elector,  and  his  wife,  Charlotte  of 
Hesse,  who  was,  though  accused  of  furious  ill-temper,  most 
bitterly  wronged.  Few  women  can  endure  open  preference 
given  to  a  servant  by  their  husbands  with  Griselda-like 
patience.^  The  Elector,  handsome,  hypocritical,  and  selfish, 
had  married,  from  interest  and  policy,  a  woman  he  loved 
not,  and  had  cast  his  eyes  on  her  maid  of  honour,  Louisa  de 
Degenfeldt.  This  lady  was  a  yellow-haired  fair-faced  daugh- 
ter of  the  Ehine  ;  if  she  had  any  beauty,  it  was  in  utter 
contrast  to  that  of  the  Elector,  who,  like  his  mother  Eliza- 
beth, was  tall,  dark,  and  elegant.  The  German  Anne  Boleyn, 
who  had  stolen  his  heart^  from  its  rightful  owner,  was  re- 
markable for  her  learning.  She  is  the  first,  and  perhaps 
will  be  the  last,  lady  who  ever  disturbed  family  peace  by 
writing  Latin  love-letters.  The  Elector,  who,  as  we  have  seen, 
had  pursued  no  royal  road  at  Leyden  to  the  great  learning 
he  possessed,  had  entered  into  correspondence  with  her  in 
hopes  of  finding  the  flaws  usual  to  lady  Latinity ;  but  her 
epistles,  which  gradually  warmed  into  love-letters,  stood  the 
test  of  the  schoolmaster.  There  is  a  girl  at  my  court,'' 
said  the  Elector  one  day  at  his  table  to  his  cousins,  the  King 
and  Queen  of  Denmark,  and  the  brother  of  the  latter,  Ernest 
Auguste  of  Brunswick,  who  writes  Latin  letters  as  well 
as  any  professor  in  my  University  of  Heidelberg.'^  The 
Electress  Charlotte  next  morning  paid  a  domiciliary  visit 
to  the  desks  of  her  lord  and  her  maid  of  honour,  while 
these  delinquents  were  hunting  with  the  royal  guests.  By 
the  help  of  some  learned  confidante,  probably  her  first 
lady  and  sister-in-law  Elizabeth,  Princess  Palatine,  who 
was  certainly  at  hand,  and  capable  of  construing  the 
most  abstruse  specimens  of  Latinity,  the  letters  of  the  dam-  v 

^  Bromley  Letters. 

*  Pcilnitz  Memoirs.    The  author  was  grandson  of  Prince  Maurice  the 
Stadthokler,  and  related  to  all  the  parties. 

^  Letters  of  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  his  daughter. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER.  293 

sel  were  discovered  to  be  love-letters  :  worse  than  all,  a  rich 
bracelet,  which  the  Elector  had  once  bought  for  his  wife, 
who  had  disdainfully  refused  it — or  at  least  he  said  so — 
was  discovered  in  the  same  escritoire  with  the  letters  of 
the  Elector.  An  awful  explosion  of  wrath  took  place  that 
day  at  dinner,  which  ended  in  the  Elector  boxing  his 
wife's  ears  before  the  royal  guests  and  their  staff  of  attend- 
ants.^ The  Electress  set  off  immediately  to  lay  her  wrongs 
before  the  Emperor  at  Ratisbon,  whither  her  husband 
was  summoned  to  assist  at  a  Diet.  While  this  matri- 
monial fracas  was  proceeding,  Sophia  wrote  a  narrative 
of  the  wretched  events  to  her  mother ;  but,  let  it  be 
marked,  wrote  it  in  a  style  satisfactory  to  her  tyrannical 
brother.  In  a  letter  to  his  mother,  still  extant,  ^  he  thus 
alludes  to  it  in  an  off-hand  tone  of  levity  :  I  believe 
my  sister  Sophia  has  acquainted  your  majesty  with  our 
crotchets  here,  which  in  several  kinds  are  very  troublesome, 
and  make  me  say  the  less  of  them,  lest  I  deter  you  from 
[coming]  to  this  place,  which,  it  may  be,  others  have  enough 
disfigured  to  you  abroad.  But  I  am  confident  of  your  jus- 
tice, as  far  as  that  you  will  not  condemn  me  before  you  have 
examined  on  all  sides.  I  shall  only  beg  leave  to  say  I  have 
had  a  great  deal  of  patience  ! 

Thus  Sophia  must  in  this  affair  have  acted  the  diplo- 
matic part  of  holding  fair  with  all  sides,  which  tendency  to 
selfish  expediency  is  the  only  flaw  her  contemporaries  find 
in  her  character.  Yet  the  violence  around  her  oflfers  great 
excuses  for  her  endeavours  to  keep  peace  with  all  the  raging 
belligerents.  One  thing  is  certain,  that  the  ill-treated  Elec- 
tress could  not  have  pursued  the  part  which  she  subsequently 
acted,  as  it  is  described  by  the  relative  of  all  parties.  Baron 
de  Polnitz,  if  Sophia,  who  had  the  charge  of  her  children, 
had  not  been  secretly  her  aider  and  well-wisher.  The 
patience''  of  Charles  Louis,  on  which  he  plumes  himself  in 
his  letter  to  his  mother,  led  him  in  a  short  time  to  the  step  of 
marrying  his  mistress  ;  not  as  a  second  wife  (for  the  hapless 

^  Polnitz ;  likewise  Vie  de  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  prefixed  to  the  French 
edition  of  her  first  published  letters. 
^  Bromley  Letters. 


294 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


Electress  was  still  living  and  not  repudiated),  but  as  a  wife 
number  two  ;  which  iniquity  this  patient Prince,  as  an 
improvement  on  the  conduct  of  Henry  VIII.,  thought  fit  to 
carry  out  by  the  farce  of  a  religious  ceremony.  He  was 
with  his  mistress  proceeding  to  the  castle  chapel  of  Heidel- 
berg, where  this  profanation  was  to  be  acted,  when  the  hap- 
less Electress,  issuing  out  of  a  side-room,  dressed  in  the  robes 
worn  at  her  marriage,  and  leading  her  children  in  either 
hand,  interrupted  her  husband's  procession,  by  throwing  her- 
self at  his  feet,  and  with  agonising  tears  "  implored  him,  for 
the  sake  of  their  little  ones,  not  to  put  another  woman  in 
their  mother's  place.''  There  was  some  chord  in  the  hard 
heart  of  Charles  Louis  not  altogether  ossified  by  vice  and 
selfishness :  he  recoiled,  and  breaking  the  purpose  of  the 
morning,  retreated  to  his  cabinet,  where  he  sat  for  hours 
in  gloomy  meditation,  wrestling  with  his  own  conscience. 
From  some  symptoms  it  was  supposed  that  conscience  would 
gain  the  victory.  Such  might  have  been  the  case  if  his 
hapless  wife  had  known  how  to  govern  herself  or  any  one 
else  ;  but  while  the  courtiers  and  the  intrusive  candidate 
for  marriage  honours  were  waiting  in  consternation  the 
result  of  the  Elector's  decision,  the  suspense  worked  the 
temper  of  the  Electress  to  frenzy.  Arming  herself  with  a 
loaded  pistol,  she  rushed  out  of  her  chamber,  and,  flying 
along  the  state  gallery  of  Heidelberg  towards  her  husband's 
cabinet,  was  intercepted  by  his  master  of  horse,  Count 
Schwartzenburg  ;  he  seized  her  by  the  wrists,  and,  turning 
the  pistol  out  of  an  open  window  of  the  gallery,  discharged 
it  harmlessly.  The  noise  drew  the  Elector's  attention  ;  and 
on  hearing  that  the  Electress  meant  to  assassinate  him,  he 
ordered  her  into  arrest.  In  a  few  days  he  renewed  his  pro- 
cession and  religious  preparations,  and  married  Louisa  de 
Degenfeldt,  to  the  scandal  of  all  Christendom. 

Sophia  trimmed  her  course  as  well  as  she  could,  and 
managed  to  retain  his  affections.  But  her  sister  Elizabeth, 
suspecting  that  Charles  Louis  meant  to  carry  his  imitation 
of  his  collateral  ancestor,  Henry  VIII. 's,  wife-discipline 
somewhat  further,  aided  the  unfortunate  Electress  to  escape 
from  durance  to  Ilesse-Cassel  j  at  the  same  time  she  withdrew 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


295 


herself  secretly  to  her  um^\  harbour  of  refuge,  the  retreat  of 
her  aunt  Charlotte,  where  the  constant  hatred  of  her  brother 
ever  after  pursued  her,  as  his  letters,  yet  extant,  bear  wit- 
ness/ Sophia,  though  she  contrived  to  retain  the  Elector's 
good-will,  retreated  to  the  Hague  with  her  charge,  the  little 
Electoral  princess,  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  then  about  four  years 
of  age  ;  and  there,  with  the  assistance  of  the  under-gover- 
ness,  Madame  Harling,  her  great  friend,  she  commenced  the 
education  of  that  extraordinary  character.  As  Sophia  de- 
rived a  certain  income  from  her  office  of  state-governess  to 
her  niece  from  her  brother,  her  return  to  her  mother  did 
not  increase  the  woeful  penury  she  was  then  enduring. 
Elizabeth  Charlotte  has  given  a  droll  account  of  her  pre- 
sentation to  Mary,  Princess  of  Orange,  of  whose  son,  Wil- 
liam III,  she  demanded,  pointing  in  the  face  of  the  Princess, 
Who  is  that  woman  with  the  monstrous  long  nose?''  with 
many  other  childish  outrages  of  etiquette.  It  is  clear  that 
Sophia  was  not  on  good  terms  with  her  royal  English  kins- 
woman ;  for,  when  she  heard  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  relate 
these  peccadilloes  of  her  little  granddaughter  at  her  pre- 
sentation at  the  Orange  court,  Sophia  said,  I  am  not  sorry, 
Lisette,  you  mortified  that  woman  ;  for  her  pride  and  insol- 
ence are  hateful  to  me."^  A  speech  less  edifying  to  her 
pupil  than  useful  to  her  biographer. 

Womanly  jealousy  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  enmity 
between  these  cousins-german ;  for  a  young  prince  had 
made  his  appearance  at  the  Hague  as  a  candidate  for 
the  hand  of  the  youthful  widow  of  Orange,  who  was 
attracted  from  his  allegiance  by  the  youthful  beauty  and 
charms  of  Sophia:  this  was  Duke  Ernest  Auguste  of  Bruns- 
wick-Lunenburg. His  fortunes  were  not  more  prosperous 
than  those  of  Sophia  herself,  whose  mother  was  utterly  ex- 
asperated at  his  pretensions  to  either  her  niece  or  daughter. 
Just  after  the  death  of  her  Imperial  lover,  Ferdinand  IV., 
Sophia  had  an  offer  from  Adolphe  of  Deuxponts  (brother  to 
Charles  X.,  and  afterwards  regent  for  his  nephew  Charles 

^  This  narrative  is  combined  from  Polnitz,  and  the  family  letters  of  the 
Palatine  family. 

^  Letters  of  Elizabeth  Charlotte  ;  French  edition. 


i 


296  SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


XI.,  kings  of  Sweden),  with  which  her  mother  closed  directly. 
According  to  her  own  marriage  articles  she  was  bound  to 
ask  the  consent  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain  regarding  the 
disposal  of  her  children  in  marriage.  Charles  II.  was  lead- 
ing a  merry  time  in  the  depth  of  his  misfortunes  at  this 
period  ;  nevertheless,  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  thus  announced 
her  daughter's  betrothment  through  his  minister, — 

The  Queen  of  Bohemia  to  Secretary  Sir  Edward  Nicholas, 
(the  trusted  friend  of  Charles  II.) 

"Hague,  Oct.  2,  1654. 
*^Mr  Secretary, — I  send  you  here  a  letter  for  the  King  [Charles  II.]  ; 
it  is  about  a  match  betwixt  Prince  Adolphe,  the  King  of  Sweden's  brother, 
and  Sophie.  He  has  desired  it  very  handsomely.  My  son  [the  Elector] 
has  consented  to  it,  reservings  the  King  of  Sweden's  consent  and  mine,  who 
am  to  acquaint  the  King  with  it.  I  do  it  now,  and  send  you  the  copy  of 
Prince  Adolphe's  letter.  I  pray  get  an  answer  from  the  King  [Charles  II.] 
as  soon  as  you  can.  I  have  no  more  to  say,  but  am  ever  your  most  affec- 
tionate friend,  Elizabeth.'^  ^ 

Sophia  was  positively  engaged  to  Prince  Adolphe  des 
Deuxponts,  nephew  to  Gustavus  Adolphus,  being  the  son 
of  his  sister,  Catherine  Vasa.  The  betrothed  of  Sophia  was 
likewise  younger  brother  of  Charles  Gustavus,  in  whose 
favour  Queen  Christina  had  just  resigned  the  crown  of 
Sweden.  This  union  was  so  far  advanced  in  the  spring  of 
1655,  the  following  year,  that  the  wedding-dresses,  both  for 
the  intended  bride  and  bridegroom,  which  were  prepared 
at  Paris,  were  all  ready  for  transportation  down  the  Rhine, 
according  to  the  information  of  M.  de  Choqueux,^  the  envoy 
of  the  Palatine  Princes  at  the  French  capital.  But  the 
bridal  of  Sophia  with  Adolphe  never  took  place.  Cromwell 
manifested  angry  jealousy  of  the  match  to  his  ally  King 
Charles  Gustavus,  who  gratified  the  policy  of  the  usurper  by 
breaking  off  the  marriage  of  the  niece  of  the  murdered 
Charles,  and  forbade  Adolphe  to  espouse  her.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  Sophia  preferred  another.  Ernest  Auguste  had 
been  domesticated  with  her  at  Heidelberg.  He  was  present 
at  the  remarkable  dinner  when  the  Elector  Palatine  struck 
his  consort.    The  Queen  of  Denmark,  in  whose  honour  that 

^  Correspondence  printed  at  tlie  end  of  Evelyn's  Diary. 
^  Bromley  Letters,  April  5,  1655. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVEK. 


297 


unique  entertainment  was  given,  was  the  only  sister  of  the 
young  Prince  of  Brunswick.  Sophia  having  thus  seen  her 
beloved  receive  a  fine  lesson  in  the  art  of  wife-taming  and 
woman-quelling,  it  seems  almost  extraordinary  that  she 
should  venture  to  accept  Ernest  Auguste,  who  was  her 
brother's  intimate  friend  and  confidant.  But  her  situation 
in  life  was  miserable,  and,  like  many  others  of  her  sex,  she 
thought  the  marriage  yoke  might  be  less  irksome  than 
fraternal  thraldom.  Meantime  she  had  another  suitor,  but 
did  not  wish  him  to  be  mentioned  to  her  master  and  brother 
the  Elector.  A  mysterious  notation  in  her  mother's  letter 
to  her  brother  Rupert,  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  this 
nameless  wooer  was  one  of  the  noble  house  of  Fursten- 
berg. 

Sophia  was  in  April  1657  at  her  brother's  court  at  Heid- 
elberg, whence  she  wrote  to  her  mother  to  inquire  which  of 
the  brothers  Fiirstenberg  wrote  that  pretty  letter?"^  I 
never  spoke  of  it  to  the  Elector,''  observes  her  mother  to  Ru- 
pert, "nor  will  not,  because  I  have  given  my  word  to  speak 
or  take  notice  of  it  to  none  but  those  who  are  to  know  it  ; 
but  I  believe  Mrs  Harling  has  told  him  all,  though  he  saith 
nothing  of  it  to  me,  nor  I  to  him,  Sophia  having  begged 
me  not  to  let  him  know  of  it,  of  all  others.'' 

The  particulars  regarding  this  Fiirstenberg,  which  were 
to  be  concealed  from  her  brother  the  Elector,  but  confided 
to  Rupert  and  her  mother,  are  lost.  She  was  at  Heidel- 
berg in  the  spring  of  1657  ;  and  her  trusted  friend  the  Frau 
Harling,  who  had  been  her  governess,  had  conferences  with 
the  Elector,  and  told  him  matters  which  Sophia  wished 
concealed  from  him.  As  Madame  Harling  was  the  practical 
governess  of  his  daughter,  perhaps  Sophia  did  not  think 
her  culpable  in  this  confidence.  They  were  on  the  point 
of  a  journey  to  the  Hague,  where  Sophia,  her  niece,  and 
Madame  Harling,  spent  part  of  every  year  with  Queen 
Elizabeth.  Soon  after,  her  engagement  to  the  youngest 
Prince  of  Brunswick,  patronised  by  her  brother  the  Elector, 
began  to  occupy  the  attention  of  the  courts  at  Heidelberg 
and  of  the  Hague. 

1  Bromley  Letters—"^  monFils  le  Prince  Rupert,"  Hague,  April  29, 1637. 


298 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


The  house  of  Guelph,  of  which  Ernest  Auguste  was  the 
youngest  scion,  was  one  of  the  most  illustrious  in  Europe. 
Under  the  sobriquet  of  Guelph,  it  may  be  traced,  almost  from 
the  earliest  ages  of  Christianity,  as  the  faithful  guardians 
of  the  trembling  flock  in  Southern  Europe,  when  molested 
by  the  invasions  of  the  German  pagans.  Before  Charle- 
magne converted  Germany  by  the  edge  of  the  sword,  the 
Guelphs  were  the  leaders  of  warlike  bands  of  German  Chris- 
tians, valiant  defenders  of  the  passes  of  the  Alps  and  the 
northern  borders  of  Italy  from  the  furious  heathens  who, 
blood-stained  from  horrid  rites  of  human  sacrifice,  came  rag- 
ing from  their  black  forests  to  extinguish  the  feeble  light 
of  civilisation  kept  alive  fearfully  in  desolated  Rome.  Peril 
and  hardihood  being  more  wholesome  nurturers  of  human 
greatness  than  peace  and  ease,  the  family  of  Guelph  throve 
accordingly;  and,  whether  known  by  the  territorial  name  of 
Este,  under  which  they  guarded  the  Marches  of  Ancona,  or 
under  their  brave  barbarian  sobriquet  of  Guelph,  or  Wolfdog, 
they  became  the  most  powerful  family  in  Europe.  In  them 
v/as  fulfilled  the  old  Scriptural  blessing,  that  they  should 
never  v/ant  a  man  to  stand  before  the  Lord.  These  warlike 
Marchers  of  Christendom  were  remarkable  for  their  fami- 
lies of  numerous  sons,  tall  and  comely  in  person;  and  in 
such  overflowing  numbers,  that  the  old  tale  of  the  Guelphic 
countess,  who  had  as  many  children  as  there  w^ere  days  in 
the  year,  three  boys  having  been  born  on  the  night  of 
the  29th  of  December,  in  a  year  of  our  Lord  unknown,  is 
a  type  of  the  family  fertility.  Nor  was  this  increase  any 
misfortune  either  in  the  dark  or  medii^val  ages,  for  the 
younger  sons  of  the  Wolfdog  guardian  led  their  bands 
northward  to  extended  conquests,  and  won  broad  lands  from 
the  heathen  hordes  of  Germany,  almost  to  the  "  surf-rocks 
of  the  Baltic.''  At  one  time  the  line  of  Guelph  extended  its 
sway  from  Northern  Italy  through  Bavaria,  Saxony,  even 
to  the  present  possessions  of  the  male  line  of  Brunswick. 
For  as  Northern  Christendom  widened,  the  frontier  of  the 
Christian  defenders  extended  also.^ 

^  Leibnitz. 

The  long  straggling  dominions  of  Prussia,  which  show  such  a  singular 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


299 


When  Germany  became  wholly  a  Christian  land,  the 
Guelphs  lost  not  their  vocation  of  defenders  ;  they  sup- 
ported the  free  election  of  the  Church  against  the  State 
tyranny  of  the  German  Emperors.  Terrible  corruptions,  it 
is  true,  had  invaded  the  Christian  Church  after  the  year 
1000  ;  but  bad  as  spiritual  affairs  might  be,  the  general  in- 
terests of  humanity  would  not  have  been  mended  by  the 
head  of  the  Church  being  always  the  slavish  nominee  of 
the  German  Emperor.  In  fact,  neither  German  popes  nor 
nominees  of  other  great  potentates^  bear  the  most  odorous 
names  in  history.  The  contests  of  the  parties  of  Guelph 
and  Ghibellne  in  the  early  mediaeval  ages,  are  oftener  named 
than  understood  :  they  were  the  struggles  of  the  two  great 
elective  powers  of  Europe,  one  ecclesiastical  and  the  other 
temporal,  being  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor,  as  to  which 
should  nominate  and  influence  the  election  of  the  other,  each 
putting  forth  some  plausible  claim  on  this  point ;  the  par- 
tisans of  the  Emperor  (and  he  had  many  in  Italy  as  well  as 
in  Germany)  being  called  Ghibelines,  the  supporters  of  the 
free  elections  of  the  Popes,  Guelphs.  Political  historians 
have,  according  to  custom,  intruded  their  selfish  present 
interests  into  the  record  of  the  past,  until  the  modern  reader 
is  utterly  mystified.^ 

Otho  the  Guelph,  son  of  Henry  the  Lion  and  Matilda 
Plantagenet,  being  brother-in-arms  and  bosom  friend  of,  and 
likewise  regent  in  Aquitaine  for,  his  uncle  Richard  Coeur-de- 
Lion,  supported  that  hero  successfully  at  the  Vienna  con- 
gress against  his  enemies  the  German  Emperor,  the  Ger- 
man Pope,  Celestine,  and  his  mortal  foe  the  Austrian  Duke. 
Subsequently  Otho  the  Guelph  was  elected  Emperor  of 
Germany ;  and  though  he  bore  his  honours  valiantly,  yet 
the  fact  of  his  being  Emperor  embarrassed  his  partisans, 
and  left  him  powerless.    Nevertheless  he  sustained  the 

outline  on  the  map  of  Europe,  arise  from  the  same  cause.  The  house  of 
Brandenburg  defended,  as  Marchers,  the  extreme  north  of  Christendom. 

^  Like  the  Spanish  Borgia,  who  was  tutor  of  Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  and, 
forced  on  the  Church  by  his  power,  became  the  infamous  Alexander  VI. 

2  This  slight  sketch  of  the  position  of  the  house  of  Guelph  from  an  early 
period  of  Christianity,  is  condensed  from  the  five  enormous  folios  of 
Leibnitz's  Origines  Guelfisae,  and  those  of  Schedius. 


300 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


fearful  struggle,  from  his  election  in  1200,  eighteen  years, 
dying  broken-hearted  in  1218,  after  the  loss  of  the  fatal 
battle  of  Bouvlnes.  From  that  hour  the  high  and  haughty 
fortunes  of  his  race  declined  in  Europe  for  several  centuries. 
It  is  certain  that  the  line  occupied  a  lower  rank  after  the 
Imperial  mantle  had  descended  on  their  chief. 

Although  the  Guelphic  princes,  at  the  era  of  the  Refor- 
mation, had  long  ceased  manifesting  any  partiality  for  the 
court  of  Home,  or  enthusiasm  for  the  Pope — for  indeed 
most  of  them  became  Protestant — yet  they  were  not  zealous 
in  the  cause,  like  many  of  the  potentates  of  Northern  Ger- 
many. In  truth,  the  hideous  outbreak  of  John  of  Leyden,  a 
human  demon  who  got  possession  of  their  ancient  city  of 
Mlinster,  calhng  himself  Anabaptist,  and  practising  therein 
every  possible  species  of  enormity,  had  given  them  a  near 
but  unpleasant  view  of  the  consequences  of  violent  change. 
They  adopted  the  Lutheran  creed,  and  went  no  farther. 

In  that  century  the  territories  of  the  G  uelphic  family  were 
reduced  to  the  duchy  of  Brunswick.  This  duchy  was  soon 
after  subdivided  into  two  small  sovereign  dukedoms,  Bruns- 
wick-Wolfenbuttel  and  Brunswick-Lunenburg,  afterwards 
called  Hanover :  the  younger  brother  took  the  latter.  But 
when  this  potentate  was  blessed  with  nine  brave  sons,  the 
ruinous  practice  of  division  and  subdivision  became  painfully 
apparent.  In  a  family  council,  held  on  the  exigence  by 
this  patriarchal  band  of  brothers,  eight  of  them  agreed  to 
remain  single,  and  that  whatsoever  was  their  due  of  landed 
appanage  should  return  to  swell  the  dominions  of  the  heir 
proceeding  from  the  brother  who  was  to  be  the  married  man 
of  the  family ;  and  they  decided  by  lot  who  this  should  be. 
The  lot  fell  upon  George,  one  of  the  youngest  of  the  princes. 
He  married  Anna,  the  daughter  of  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse. 
The  rest  of  the  Brunswick-Lunenburg  princes  either  re- 
mained bachelors  or  made  morganatic  marriages  with 
women  of  lower  classes,  whose  children  were  not  eligible  to 
any  princely  succession  in  proud  Germany.  The  order  of 
primogeniture  was  not,  however,  altered.  The  unmarried 
princes  succeeded  each  other  according  to  their  ages,  until 

*  Leibnitz.    We  follow  the  historian  of  the  Guelphic  line. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVEK. 


301 


the  small  sceptre  of  Hanover  fell  to  the  progeny  of  Duke 
George.  By  Anna  of  Hesse,  George  of  Brunswick  had  four 
sons  and  two  daughters,  which  sons  were  expected  to  be 
obedient  to  the  new  family  marriage-laws,  stipulating  that 
all  the  dominions  of  Brunswick-Lunenburg  were  to  descend 
undivided  to  the  eldest  son  in  sovereignty,  excepting  the 
dukedom  of  Zelle,  which  was  to  be  the  appanage  of  the 
second  son,  if  there  was  one.  Yet  Zelle  was  not  to  descend 
to  his  offspring,  but  revert  back  to  the  reigning  family. 
Thus  a  very  strong  entail  of  primogeniture  was  effected 
out  of  the  most  liberal  custom  of  free  family  division  of 
lands  and  goods  that  can  be  cited  from  history.  George 
of  Brunswick's  three  eldest  sons  were  Christian  Louis, 
George  William,  and  John  Frederic.  As  for  the  youngest, 
with  whose  fortunes  our  narrative  is  chiefly  concerned,  he 
was  born  at  the  castle  of  Hertezberg,^  November  30,  1630, 
with  a  twin  sister  who  died  soon  afterwards.  He  received 
the  name  of  Ernestus  Augustus,  or,  in  German  parlance, 
Ernst  Auguste.^  Nothing  could  be  more  forlorn  than  his 
prospects — the  youngest  son  of  a  younger  son,  by  family- 
compact  agreed  to  be  an  intruder  into  life  even  before  he 
drew  its  breath.  One  beautiful  sister,  how^ever,  survived 
among  this  too  numerous  band  of  brethren — Amalie,  after- 
wards Queen  of  Denmark,  who  never  forgot  to  advance  the 
fortunes  of  her  brothers.  Scarcely  had  Ernest  Auguste 
attained  his  twelfth  year  before  the  whole  family  were 
plunged  into  tribulation  by  the  mysterious  death  of  the 
father,  Duke  George  of  Brunswick-Lunenburg,  who,  par- 
taking at  Hildesheim  of  a  grand  feast,  April  2,  1641,  at 
which  himself,  the  renowned  Swedish  General  Bannier, 
Christian  of  Hesse,  the  French  Marshal  Guebriant,  and 
several  others  of  names  historical  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War, 
were  guests,  the  whole  suffered  from  the  effects  of  poison ; 
not  one  survived  the  fatal  banquet.    The  blame  Avas  laid 

^  Leibnitz. 

2  One  day  I  heard  the  late  Elector  Ernst  Auguste  say  that  when  his 
eldest  brother  Christian  Louis  was  yet  living,  they  had  at  least  twenty 
controversies  with  Hesse-Cassel  on  the  subject  of  boundaries  and  other 
affairs  which  often  happen  between  neighbours,  and  yet  the  princes  re- 
mained good  friends." —Leibnitz  to  Baron  von  Obdam/Dec.  1,  1703. 


302 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


upon  a  French  monk;  but  if  modern  science  had  investi- 
gated the  copper  and  brazen  utensils  in  which  the  cooks  of 
former  times  prepared  their  viands,  different  verdicts  might 
have  been  given  to  most  of  these  historical  cases  of  wliole- 
sale  poisoning.  Of  the  eldest  sons  of  Duke  George,  Chris- 
tian succeeded  to  the  sovereign  duchy.  As  for  the  three 
3"oungest  sons,  George,  William,  and  Ernest  Auguste,  they 
were,  according  to  the  Shakesperian  adage,  "  lords  of  their 
presence  and  no  lands  beside." 

In  former  days  two  would  have  become  chevalier-errants, 
leaders  of  mercenary  forces,  and  the  other  entered  the 
Church ;  and  truly  such  was  their  destination,  with  some 
modification  of  time  and  place.  When  they  were  left 
fatherless  so  disastrously,  the  Thirty  Years'  W^ar  was  raging, 
and  during  that  period  the  warlike  Princes  of  Orange  main- 
tained a  standing  army,  into  which  the  elder  of  the  three 
brothers,  George  William,  entered.  MeautimeErnest  Auguste 
was  placed  at  the  University  of  Marburg,^  in  Hesse,  by  his 
mother,  with  some  idea  of  devoting  him  to  the  Church,  or 
rather  to  the  benefices  of  the  Church,  when  it  was  settled 
in  Germany  who  should  possess  them,  for  the  land  was  then 
shuddering  under  the  latter  horrors  of  the  Thirty  Years^ 
War.  Thus  Ernest  Auguste,  afterwards  celebrated  as  a 
warrior,  received  the  education  of  a  clerk.  He  imbibed  a 
great  deal  of  the  heavy  learning  of  that  era,  was  elected  a 
rector,  and  the  coadjutor  archbishop  for  that  burnt  and 
tortured  city,  poor  Magdeburg.  His  election  occurred 
while  he  was  taking  what  w^as  called  the  grand  tour  through 
France,  England,  Spain,  and  Italy.  He  became  a  remark- 
able linguist,  and  returned  to  Germany  with  the  reputation 
of  being  one  of  her  most  accomplished  princes.  He  is 
described^  as  of  a  lofty  stature,  strong,  and  well-propor- 
tioned, with  a  handsome  face,  on  which  sat  a  very  pleasant 
expression  :  so  it  might  be  in  the  eyes  of  his  protege 
Leibnitz,  but  the  expression  of  his  bewigged  portrait  is 
selfish  and  sensual. 

Meantime  the  family  of  Brunswick-Lunenburg,  instead 

^  Geschicbte  der  Hannover  Laudcs. 
2  Leibnitz — Funeral  Paper. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


303 


of  having  more  brave  sons  than  it  knew  what  to  do  with, 
began,  about  1658,  to  be  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of 
being  left  entirely  without  heirs-male.  The  eldest  prince, 
Christian  Louis,  Duke  of  Brunswick-Lunenburg,  had  no 
children/  The  next  brother,  John  Frederic,^  was  married 
to  a  niece  of  Sophia,  daughter  of  her  brother  Edward, 
but  had  only  female  offspring.  As  for  George  WiUiam, 
his  love  for  Eleanore  d'Olbreuse  being  most  constant,  he 
passionately  refused  to  leave  her,  or  to  marry  any  German 
princess  deemed  of  sufficient  rank  to  become  mother  of  the 
line  of  Brunswick.  In  this  predicament  the  youngest  brother, 
Ernest  Auguste,  notwithstanding  his  ecclesiastical  education 
and  prospects  of  a  bishopric  in  reversion,  was  admonished,  in 
family  conclave,  to  commence  wooing  some  fair  princess,  and 
marry  speedily  for  the  good  of  the  race.  His  choice,  guided 
by  long  previous  attachment,  fell  upon  Sophia,  the  sister  of 
his  most  intimate  friend  Charles  Louis,  Elector  Palatine. 
There  is  reason  to  suppose,  from  an  expression  in  a  letter 
of  that  Prince,  that  Sophia  returned  the  passion  of  the 
handsome  Brunswicker.  Nevertheless  Elizabeth  of  Bo- 
hemia offered  the  most  lively  opposition  to  the  match ; 
her  ambition  had  been  excessively  excited  by  the  love  of 
the  deceased  Ferdinand  IV.  for  her  Sophia,  on  whose  brow 
she  naturally  deemed  the  Imperial  crown  would  shine  to 
great  advantage.  The  beauty  and  grace  which  had  sub- 
dued the  heart  of  the  heir  to  the  enemy  of  the  Palatine  line, 
it  was  not  unnatural  for  Elizabeth  to  suppose  would  make 
other  conquests  nearly  as  valuable ;  therefore  the  younger 
son  of  a  younger  son  of  a  younger  branch  was  not  an 
acceptable  match  in  the  eyes  of  the  mother.  But  Sophia 
was  approaching  her  tw^enty-ninth  year,  and  thought  delay 
was  dangerous. 

1  Letters  of  Sophia  of  Hanover  to  Leibnitz  ;  likewise  Jacob's  Peerage. 

^  He  succeeded  in  1663  as  sovereign  Duke  of  Brunswick- Lunenburg, 
having  in  his  elder  brother's  lifetime  possessed  the  appanage  of  Zelle.  Under 
the  plea  that  the  dukedoms  of  Brunswick-Lunenburg  and  of  Zelle  were,  even  if 
united,  infinitely  too  small  for  him,  Frederic  refused  to  give  Zelle  up  to  his 
brother  George  William,  who  was,  by  the  death  of  the  eldest  duke,  the 
second  brother  of  the  family,  and  consequently  the  rightful  possessor  of 
Zelle.  However,  a  threatened  appeal  to  the  Emperor  righted  this  wrong, 
and  George  William  became  for  life  the  holder  of  the  dukedom  of  Zelle. 


304 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


A  few  days  before  Sophia  gave  her  hand  to  Ernest 
Auguste,  her  brother  wrote  to  their  mother,  Elizabeth 
Queen  of  Bohemia,  regarding  the  bridal  expenses,  in  excuse 
for  not  forwarding  the  sums  he  ought  to  have  sent  to  the 
Hague  for  her  use.  According  to  his  statement,  no  outlay 
but  for  necessaries  was  incurred.  He  dates  from  Dignert- 
ringen,  September  10,  1658.  The  expenses,''  he  says,^ 
"  about  my  sister  Sophia's  marriage  (not  for  ceremonies  or 
pomp,  but  for  the  realities  fit  for  her),  which  I  am  obliged 
to  defray,  render  me  incapable  of  what  your  Majesty  is 
pleased  to  require  of  me  concerning  the  4000  rix-dollars — 
for  besides  her  due  which  I  must  advance,  I  am  bound  to 
an  extraordinary  [advance],  more  especially  for  the  friend- 
ship she  always  showed  me,  and  because  nobody  else  hath 
done  anything  for  her.''  Alluding  to  another  impending 
marriage  in  the  Hesse  family,  he  continues  :  I  wish  the 
wedding  at  Tournhait  may  have  better  success  than  mine 
at  Cassel :  they  say  the  lady  is  haughty  enough,  and  he  is 
my  wife's  cousin  -  german.  If  Mademoiselle  Marie  [of 
Orange]  gets  my  cousin  of  Simmeren,^  she  will  get  a 
precious  piece.  God  bless  us,  they  say  he  loves  no  com- 
pany but  pages  and  footmen.  Towards  the  end  of  this 
month  I  hope  your  Majesty  will  hear  an  end  of  my  sister 
Sophia's  romanza."  At  the  end  of  September  the  event 
her  brother  chooses  to  call  a  romance"  actually  took  place, 
although,  when  mentioning  it  in  after  life,  she  disdained  to 
remember  the  date. 

"  I  don't  remember  the  day  of  my  marriage/'  says  Sophia 
herself  in  one  of  her  letters  to  Leibnitz  ;  but  it  took  place 
at  the  Castle  of  Heidelberg  at  the  latter  end  of  September 
1658.  She  was  given  to  Ernest  Auguste  by  the  hand  of 
her  brother,  lord,  and  master,  who  was  his  intimate  friend, 
and  actually  paid  a  small  dowry  of  a  few  thousand  florins, 
which  he  subsequently  subtracted  out  of  the  poor  stipend 
he  paid  his  mother.  Notwithstanding  a  sharp  dispute  with 
her  son,  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia  waived  her  objections  to  the 
marriage,  and  received  her  son-in-law  with  great  affection. 

^  Bromley  Letters. 

^  Son  of  his  uncle,  Louis  Duke  of  Simmeren,  lately  dead. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


305 


She  probably  had  kept  up  opposition  to  gratify  her  niece, 
Mary  Princess  of  Orange,  who,  when  the  bride  and  bride- 
groom came  to  the  Hague,  refused  to  let  him  salute  lier, 
though  it  was  his  privilege  as  her  cousin-german  by  mar- 
riage. He  was,  moreover,  her  second  cousin,  being  the 
descendant  of  her  great-aunt  Elizabeth  of  Denmark,  Duchess 
of  Brunswick. 

The  Queen  of  Bohemia,  when  acknowledging  Charles  II. 's 
letter  of  congratulation,  asked  for  the  Order  of  the  Garter 
to  decorate  Ernest  Auguste,  her  son-in-law.  "  Sophia," 
she  says,  "  was  very  handsomely  received  at  Hanover, 
where  she  is  very  well  used,  which  makes  me  make  humble 
suit  to  your  Majesty  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  give  my 
son-in-law  the  Order  of  the  Garter  :  he  will  take  it  for  a 
great  honour.  I  will  answer  for  him  he  will  seek  to  deserve 
it  in  all  he  can  by  his  humble  service,  and  it  will  oblige  all 
that  house.'' ^  Charles  II.  granted  the  request,  and  joined 
a  family  meeting  at  Brussels  soon  after,  whither  came  So- 
phia, her  mother  his  aunt,  the  sprite  Elizabeth  Charlotte, 
and  Ernest  Auguste,  who,  already  his  kinsman  in  the  second 
degree,  was  now  his  first  cousin  by  marriage  with  Sophia. 

Sophia  had  no  settled  residence  at  this  period  of  her  life, 
and  her  time  was  spent  between  her  mother's  house  at  the 
Hague,  and  occasional  visits  to  the  Elector  at  Heidelberg 
and  at  Hanover,  where  her  husband  possessed  such  apart- 
ments in  the  ducal  palace  as  pertained  to  the  very  slender 
appanage  of  a  youngest  brother.  She  mentions  in  her  letters 
how  trying  was  the  stupidity  and  ignorance  of  the  old-world 
German  courts.  Wheresoever  she  sojourned  her  niece  Eliza- 
beth Charlotte  lived  with  her.  Notices  of  this  period  of  her 
aunt's  life  occur  in  her  letters.  When  the  birth  of  Sophia's 
first  child  took  place,  the  curiosity  of  this  imp  led  her  to 
conceal  herself  in  the  wide  chimney  of  Sophia's  lying-in 
chamber,  at  the  old  ducal  palace  of  Hanover.  When  the 
infant  (Prince  George  Louis)  was  born,  Elizabeth-Charlotte 
says  that,  encouraged  by  the  number  of  persons  crowding 
round  the  Princess  Sophia  her  aunt,  she  emerged  out  of  her 

^  State-Paper  Letter,  December  6,  1658. 
VOL.  VIII.  U 


306 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOYEK. 


covert  to  see  the  babe,  her  new  little  cousin.  Such  was 
the  joj/'  she  adds,  "  at  the  birth  of  an  heir-male  to  the  line 
of  Brunswick,  the  elder  brothers  of  Ernest  Auguste  having 
no  sons,  that  I  escaped  the  whipping  I  well  deserved'' — a 
proof  that  such  castigations  formed  part  of  the  discipline 
established  under  her  well-beloved  aunt's  regime.  The  future 
King  of  Great  Britain,  Sophia's  eldest  son  George,  was  born 
May  28,  1660,  an  event  which  prevented  the  mother  from 
witnessing  the  triumphant  departure  of  her  first  cousin 
Charles  II.  for  his  restoration. 

In  the  course  of  1661,  her  husband's  fortunes  had  mate- 
rially altered  for  the  better.  The  Cardinal,  who  was  Roman 
Catholic  incumbent  of  the  bishopric  of  Osnaburg,  died,  and 
Ernest  Auguste  succeeded  to  his  benefice  according  to  the 
stipulations  of  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia.  The  bishop  re- 
moved with  his  wife  and  young  infant  to  Osnaburg,  where 
the  endowments  of  the  old  church  enriched  the  youngest 
son  of  the  house  of  Brunswick.  Elizabeth  Charlotte  still 
formed  part  of  her  aunt's  family,  and  all,  exceedingly  pleased, 
fixed  their  residence  at  the  old  episcopal  palace  of  Iburg, 
which  became  ever  after  the  favourite  abode  of  the  Duchess 
Sophia  and  Bishop  Ernest  Auguste.  "  Ah,  but  these  were 
happy  days  at  that  dear  old  castle  of  Iburg,  listening  to  all 
the  strange  tales  about  it,  and  frightening  ourselves  with 
the  ghost-stories.''^  But  it  was  Elizabeth  Charlotte  and 
her  playmates  who  diverted  themselves  with  this  pleasant 
excitement  of  fear  supernatural;  her  aunt  Sophia  was  not 
given  to  belief  in  matters  spiritual  of  any  kind. 

Sophia  hastened  to  see  her  mother  before  her  embarkation 
for  England,  and  take  that  farewell  which  proved  indeed  to 
be  the  last.  With  her  came  her  pupil  and  inseparable  com- 
panion, Elizabeth  Charlotte.  A  letter  from  the  Elector  ^  to 
the  departing  Queen,  written  in  unusual  good -humour, 
hoping  doubtless  that  he  had  now  transferred  her  main- 
tenance to  her  English  relatives,  gives  some  personal  parti- 
culars of  his  sister  Sophia  and  her  niece,  both  of  whom  had 

*  Letters  of  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  Duchess  of  Orleans,  to  Louise  and  Amelia, 
daughters  of  her  father  by  Mademoiselle  de  Degenfeldt,  vol.  6.  Stutgard. 

*  Uargan's  MSS.,  from  Archives  of  Hanover  —  King's  Library,  British 
Museum. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


307 


just  left  Heidelberg.  My  sister  the  duchesSj  before  this 
reaches  your  Majesty's  hands,  will  have  had  the  honour  and 
happiness  to  wait  on  you  with  my  little  Lisolette/  who  has 
reason  to  have  a  good  opinion  of  herself,  since  you  are 
pleased  to  grace  her  with  the  title  of  your  favourite.  She 
has  good  nature,  and  wants  not  wit;  cunning  enough,  as 
St  Ravy  useth  to  say  of  himself.  Your  Majesty  will  find  my 
sister  Sophia  in  the  same  condition  as  she  was  in  when  she 
waited  last  on  your  Majesty.  Body  and  mind  is  still  the 
same;  nothing  affects  her;  at  least  she  can  hide  it  better 
than  I  do.''  Sophia  took  a  tender  farewell  of  her  mother 
on  board  the  very  ship  in  which  she  sailed.  She  had  soon 
after  the  happiness  of  hearing  from  her,  that  though  only 
received  privately  in  the  royal  family,  she  was  so  much 
satisfied  with  Charles  IL,  who  was  in  fact  kinder  to  her  than 
any  son  she  had. 

"  Stolsena  (5  lieues  from  Hanover),  Aug.  14. 
"  It  is  long  since  I  had  been  honoured  by  a  letter  of  your  Majesty,  or  of 
one  of  your  court ;  which  would  make  me  anxious,  did  I  not  know  from 
other  sources  that  you  are  quite  well,  and  that  your  Majesty  are  quite  satis- 
fied in  England.  Being  sure  of  this,  I  have  nothing  more  to  wish  for,  only 
that  you  may  continue  towards  me  in  your  good  graces ;  although  I  fear 
that,  on  thinkiDg  of  me,  you  will  find  me  very  homely,  now  that  you  see  so 
mucJi  admirable  ladies  who  fill  your  court  every  day.  Here  they  do  best 
walking,  and  I  am  quite  in  despair  not  to  be  able  to  do  so.  The  Abbess 
of  Herford  is  very  ill,  but  I  think  she  shows  it  only  in  order  to  see  the 
mien  which  my  sister  will  make,  who  is  now  with  her. 

Just  now,  thank  God,  I  receive  a  packet  of  letters  from  London,  by  which 
your  Majesty  did  me  the  honour  to  think  of  me,  which  gives  me  the  greatest 

pleasure  in  the  world  In  the  meanwhile,  I  am  glad  that  your  Majesty 

have  so  much  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  the  King  your  nephew  ;  which  must 
still  be  more  pleasant  to  him.  There  will  be  certainly  many  festivals  at 
London  at  the  coming  of  the  fair  Infanta.  I  hope  the  Dutchesse  Richmond 
will  till  then  recover  from  her  malady.  I  am  sorry  that  in  her  age  she  is 
troubled  by  it.  At  Heidelberg,  Menz,  and  Stutgart,  the  dissentery  kills 
many  people,  but  this  land  is  still  safe  of  that  plague.  At  the  end  of  this 
week  we  will  return  to  Hanover.  Wherever  I  am,  your  Majesty  may  be- 
lieve me  your  most  obedient  servant.  The  Duke  my  husband  commands 
me  to  present  his  most  obedient  respects  to  your  Majesty,  and  to  give  you 
the  assurance  of  his  being  your  Majesty's  most  faithful  and  obedient  ser- 
vant, Sophia."  ^ 


^  His  daughter  EHzabeth  Charlotte. 

2  Bromley  Letters,  August  1661.  Sophia's  letter  is  written  in  English, 
her  idiom  of  which  is  not  quite  perfect. 


308 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


Some  weeks  later,  Sophia  gave  birth  at  Hanover,  Oct.  3, 
to  another  son,  Frederic  Auguste.  Towards  the  end  of 
the  same  month  she  wrote  from  thence  to  express  her  im- 
patience at  not  having  heard  from  her  mother,  who,  how- 
ever, she  implies,  had  occasional  fits  of  epistolary  silence. 
"  It  is  such  a  long  time  since  I  received  a  letter  from  Eng- 
land,'' she  says,  "  that  I  should  fear  of  being  entirely 
forgotten,  were  your  Majesty  not  known  to  me.  I  hope 
my  brother  Rupert  has  the  honour  of  being  now  with  your 
Majesty.  It  is  such  a  long  time  since  I  heard  of  him,  that 
I  do  not  know  if  he  is  still  alive.  He  is  still  more  lazy  to 
write  than  I  am  ;  but  one  does  not  know  how  to  fill  a  letter 
in  such  a  place  as  this.''  Sophia  was  expected  with  her 
charge,  the  young  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  to  visit  the  Elector 
at  Heidelberg.  He  wrote  to  his  mother,^  Feb.  2,  1661, 
that  his  sister  had  been  prevented  by  the  bad  weather,  and 
the  return  of  her  quasms  " — whether  he  means  spasms  or 
qualms  is  not  easy  to  decide.  But  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia 
had  quitted  this  troublesome  world  before  the  letter  reached 
England.  How  Sophia  bore  the  loss  of  a  mother  she 
evidently  loved  ardently,  no  letter  of  hers  has  revealed — 
when  she  felt  deeply  her  pen  was  always  inert.  But  in  the 
course  of  a  few  months  her  lively  satirical  spirit  was 
awake  and  active.  In  one  of  her  letters  she  settled  all 
the  disputes  concerning  the  reasons  wherefore  her  eldest 
sister  Elizabeth  patronised  and  harboured  the  sect  of  the 
Labadists,  a  species  of  German  Quakers,  at  her  Abbey  of 
Herford,  declaring  they  lived  so  poorly  and  abstemiously 
^'  that  her  sister  found  them  the  most  economical  guests 
possible,  in  an  establishment  expected  to  do  something  in 
the  manner  of  hospitality.'^  Her  sister  Elizabeth  was  per- 
fectly conscious  of  her  satire,  yet  was  persuaded  by  her 
proteges  to  address  a  letter  to  Sophia  that  she  might  join 
her  in  intercession  for  Barclay  and  other  Quakers,  imprisoned 
and  tormented  in  England.  It  seems  Sophia  replied  to  the 
application  in  a  sarcastic  spirit,  for  Elizabeth,  in  one  of  her 
letters  to  Penn,  reminded  him  that  she  anticipated  the  same; 
yet  she  would  act  in  a  similar  manner  if  it  exposed  her  not 
^  Bromley  Letters. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


309 


only  to  the  mockeries  of  her  sister  the  Duchess  of  Lunen- 
burg (for  so  Sophia  was  then  called),  but  to  those  of  the 
whole  world.  Nevertheless,  when  Sophia  heard  it  was  Wil- 
liam Penn  who  had  visited  her  sister,  she  condescended  to 
regret  that  his  way  home  had  not  been  through  Osnaburg. 

In  those  early  days  of  her  marriage,  when  life  was  fresh, 
and  the  man  she  loved  by  her  side,  constant  and  true,  the 
spirit  of  Sophia  was  more  than  ever  bright  and  joyous, 
fearing  no  ill  that  chance  or  change  could  inflict.  Yet  she 
was  tried  with  accidents  that  would  have  terrified  most 
women  and  many  men.  Her  constant  companion  and 
chronicler,  her  niece,  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  preserved  the 
memory  of  incidents  pertaining  to  the  life  of  "  ilf a  tante,^^ 
as  she,  with  fiimiliar  homeliness,  calls  the  Duchess  Sophia, 
and  M'onclej''  the  duke-bishop  Ernest  Auguste.  Ma 
tante,  courageous  as  a  man,  is  not  easily  frightened,^' 
writes  she  ;  I  saw  her  once,  at  Klagenberg,  issue  coolly  out 
of  a  conflagration,  saving  herself  in  a  night-gown  from  the 
flames  which  had  nearly  closed  round  her  in  her  sleeping- 
chamber,  and  she  then  was  far  advanced  in  pregnancy  ;  but 
she  only  laughed,  not  being  the  least  frightened.  Another 
time  I  was  with  her  out  in  a  carriage  to  which  young  horses 
had  been  harnessed  ;  they  of  course  ran  away  with  us, 
the  coachman  thrown  off  and  was  much  hurt,  but  oncle 
sprang  out  of  the  carriage  and  seized  the  horses.  There 
was  great  danger,  but  ma  tante  cared  not  a  whit/'  ^ 

Sophia's  time  was  now  spent  at  Iburg  episcopal  castle. 
Here  some  of  her  children  were  born,  and  all  were  educated. 
We  have  shown  that  she  mentions,  in  one  of  her  Leibnitz 
letters,  her  forgetfulness  of  the  date  of  her  marriage-day, 
with  no  little  slighting  contempt,  but  proceeds  to  say, Con- 
cerning the  birth  of  my  children,  I  noted  the  days  in  my 
book  of  genealogy  which  is  at  Hanover.  My  two  eldest 
sons,  George  Louis  [George  I.]  and  Frederic  Auguste, 
were  born  at  Hanover  ;  Max  and  the  twins  at  Osnaburg  ; 
Charles  and  the  Electress  of  Brandenburg  [her  only 
daughter],  at  Iburg  ;  Christian  at  Heidelberg,  and  Ernest 
Auguste   at  Osnaburg.'' ^    Her   eldest   son,  afterwards 

1  Letters  of  Elizabeth  Charlotte  ;  Stutgard.  2  Peder,  p.  3. 


310 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


George  I.  of  Great  Britain,  was  dwarfish,  scarcely  rising 
to  the  height  of  five  feet ;  his  low  and  rather  deformed 
stature,  his  shrewd  temper  and  worldly  cunning,  joined,  it 
must  be  owned,  to  wit  and  bravery,  gave  him  great  resem- 
blance to  his  ancestors  of  Nassau.  His  mother  had  small 
love  or  liking  for  him,  and  the  little  she  had  decreased 
with  years.  To  the  rest  of  her  family  she  was  a  fond 
parent ;  and  truly  her  other  five  sons  were  a  stalwart 
group  of  warriors,  most  of  them  rivalling  the  colossal  fig- 
ures of  her  insular  ancestors,  John  of  Gaunt,  Edward  IV., 
Lennox,  and  Darnley.  Sophia  and  her  learned  brother, 
the  Elector  Charles  Louis,  had  agreed  that  the  Brunswickers 
were  the  descendants  of  that  Herminius  celebrated  in  Eoman 
history,  and  they  always  called  them  sons  of  Herman/' 
Several  of  her  martial  offspring  were  no  unworthy  ^  speci- 
mens of  the  race.  Three  of  the  coffins  of  her  young  heroes 
who  fell  in  battle,  stretch  their  portentous  length  in  the 
vaults  of  the  castle  chapel  at  Hanover. 

Troubles  broke  out  in  Osnaburg,  owing  to  the  religious 
disputes  of  the  people,  whose  numbers  as  Protestants  and 
Koman  Catholics  were  nearly  equal.  Of  course  they  re- 
viled and  tormented  each  other  vigorously,  and  one  of  the 
wars  which  mankind  have  agreed  to  call  civil,"  further 
aggravated  by  polemics,  was  the  consequence.  The  death 
of  the  reigning  duke,  Christian  Louis,  led  to  another 
family  compact  of  the  house  of  Brunswick -Lunenburg, 
strange  as  any  which  had  preceded  it,  giving  to  the 
ambitious  Ernest  August e  the  rights  and  precedence  of  his 
elder  brother  George  William,  in  return  for  certain  indul- 
gence granted  to  the  strong  feelings  of  conjugal  and  pater- 
nal love  which  swayed  the  honest  heart  of  that  warrior. 
George  WilHam  stipulated  that  If  his  beloved  wife,  Eleanore, 
were  received  as  Duchess  of  Zelle  by  his  kindred,  and  their 
little  daughter,  Sophia  Dorothea,  permitted  to  succeed  to 
his  personal  property,  he  would  be  content  with  the  Duke- 
dom of  Zelle,  and  yield  all  claim  to  the  sovereignty  of 
Hanover  to  his  next  brother,  John  Frederic,  who  hav- 

^  Letters  of  Sophia,  quoted  by  Feder,  p.  176. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


311 


ing  no  sons,  it  was  to  pass  finally  to  the  youngest,  Bishop 
Ernest  Auguste. 

To  explain  his  reasons  for  this  species  of  abdication,  it  is 
needful  to  give  a  hasty  sketch  of  his  preceding  life,  the 
tendencies  of  which  had  a  peculiar  influence  on  the  fortunes 
of  his  youngest  brother  the  Bishop,  Sophia,  and  their  de- 
scendants. George  William,  in  his  youth,  had  a  command 
at  Breda  in  the  Protestant  cavalry  of  the  Prince  of  Tarente, 
the  near  relative  of  Sophia's  father.  In  process  of  time  he 
became  commander  of  the  German  mercenaries  in  the 
employ  of  the  Dutch.  The  Princess  of  Tarente,  of  the  house 
of  Hesse,  his  mother's  relative,  had  a  maid-of-honour,  Elea- 
nore  d'Olbreuse,  the  daughter  of  a  Poitou  Protestant  re- 
fugee of  noble  rank.  Duke  George  William,  being  much 
domesticated  with  the  Hessian  princess,  his  relative,  fell  in 
love  with  her  maid,  who  was  beautiful  and  virtuous ;  but 
she  at  last  submitted  to  a  morganatic  marriage.  This, 
it  seems,  is  meant  for  holy  matrimony,  only  the  children 
are  not  considered  illustrious  enough  to  succeed  to  the 
German  sovereignties.  Fortunately,  George  William  and 
Eleanore  had  but  one  fair  daughter,  whom  they  loved 
passing  well.  Even  if  born  with  the  full  honours  that 
Zelle  could  give  to  her  dukes,  the  young  Sophia  could 
not  have  succeeded  to  that  vast  inheritance,  which  was 
ruled  by  Salic  law;  but  her  father  was  willing  to  sacrifice 
his  claim  on  Brunswick-Lunenburg,  if  she  were  acknow- 
ledged as  princess  by  his  brother,  and  was  endov/ed  with 
his  personal  property  sans  dispute. 

And  there  were  certain  lands  and  baronies  that  were  his 
by  purchase,  which  would  follow  the  succession  of  the  sover- 
eign dukedom  of  Brunswick-Lunenburg  to  Ernest  Auguste. 
It  has  been  mistakenly  supposed  that  the  young  Sophia  was 
to  inherit  the  dukedom  of  Zelle,  but  that  was  as  firmly  a 
male  fief  as  Hanover.  Her  appanage  was  a  rich  one,  being 
the  island  of  Wilhelmsburg,  in  the  mouth  of  the  Elbe,  near 
Hamburg,  acquired  by  her  father,  who  was  very  rich,  owing 
to  his  campaigns  and  his  wife,  who  was  a  most  excellent  econo- 
mist. Indeed,  all  the  waste,  extravagance,  and  folly  for  which 


312 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVEE. 


courts,  large  and  small,  in  these  days  were  remarkable,  had 
been  avoided  by  this  virtuous  and  loving  pair,  for  George 
William  needed  not  those  expensive  adjuncts,  mistresses 
and  favourites.  In  the  items  of  this  family  compact, 
which  was  ratified  and  agreed  upon  by  the  three  princely 
Guelphic  brethren,  Ernest  Auguste,  Bishop  of  Osnaburg,  the 
reigning  duke,  J ohn  Frederic,  and  the  Duke  of  Zelle,  George 
William,  it  is  expressly  agreed,  that  if  the  young  daughter 
of  the  latter  should  marry  a  prince  of  the  line  of  Brunswick, 
she  was  to  be  allowed  all  the  rights  and  dignity  of  a  prin- 
cess by  birth,  but  not  if  she  married  into  any  other  line. 
Her  father  s  ambition  had  already  destined  her  to  shine  as 
the  first  princess  of  the  line,  he  having  promised  her  hand 
to  the  eldest  son  of  his  kinsman  and  brother-in-arms,  the 
poet-duke  Antony  Ulric,  Duke  of  ^A^olfenbuttel.  It  is  Like- 
wise worthv  of  remark  that  the  name  of  Ernest  Auo-uste, 
though  the  youngest  of  the  three  contracting  brethren, 
takes  precedence  of  both  ;  but  the  reason  is  sedulously  ex- 
plained that  such  was  his  right  as  being  an  ecclesiastical 
prince;  and  it  is  carefully  noted  that  such  is  the  sole  cause 
of  the  precedence  of  nomination,  and  that  it  is  not  to  form 
a  precedent  in  any  other  case.  From  this  circumstance  an 
ignorant  mistake  has  arisen,  that  Ernest  Auguste  was  the 
eldest  brother,  a  supposition  which  would  dislocate  every 
event  in  his  life,  and  that  of  his  consort. 

In  conclusion,  the  Duke  Bishop,  and  the  reigning  Duke, 
John  Frederic,  agreed  to  pay  their  demitting  brother  George 
William,  each  a  sum  of  money,  very  small  when  reduced 
to  English  pounds,  being  less  than  dS^SOOO.  After  this 
treatv  had  been  ratified,  the  reigning  duke,  John  Frederic, 
withdrew  almost  entirely  from  public  life,  leaving  the  man- 
agement of  his  state,  his  people,  and  his  army,  to  his  brother 
the  Duke-Bishop.  The  reason  was.  that  John  Frederic 
had  become  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  was  educating  his  three 
daughters  in  the  same  religion,  which  it  was  unpopular,  if 
not  illegal,  for  a  Duke  of  Brunswick-Lunenburg  to  profess. 
John  Frederic  had  married  a  Roman  Catholic  princess, 
Benedicta,  daughter  of  Edward,  fourth  son  of  Elizabeth  of 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


313 


Bohemia,  who  had  married  the  French  heiress  of  Nevers,  and 
left  the  Protestant  religion  ;  and  his  affections,  and  those  of 
his  wife  and  children,  tended  to  the  faith  and  interests  of 
France.  For  a  long  course  of  years,  therefore,  Ernest 
Auguste  and  Sophia  reigned  over  Brunswick-Lunenburg 
before  the  actual  succession  made  them,  in  the  appreciation 
of  the  world,  the  ostensible  sovereigns. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER 


CHAPTEE  II. 

SUMMAEY 

Military  importance  of  the  Duke-Bishop,  Sophia's  husband — Sophia  brings 
her  two  eldest  sons  to  Brussels — Her  tour  with  Gourville,  Louis  XIV.'s 
envoy — Makes  him  travel  with  her  woman,  La  Marsilliare — Her  life  at 
Iburg  Castle — Birth  of  her  daughter — Resides  with  her  niece  and  Ma- 
dame Harling — Enumeration  of  her  sons — Devotes  herself  to  the  educa- 
tion of  her  family — Her  friendship  with  Leibnitz — Becomes  acquainted 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle  with  the  Princess  of  Orange — Death  of  the  reigning 
Duke  of  Brunswick-Lunenburg — Accession  of  her  husband  to  the  sover- 
eignty— Incognita  visit  to  France  of  Sophia  with  her  daughter — Arrives 
at  Maubisson,  her  sister's  abbey — Rapturous  meeting  with  her  sister  and 
nieces — Meets  Gourville — Assures  him  that  her  daughter  has  no  religion 
— He  insinuates  that  Louis  XIV.  wishes  her  daughter  to  marry  the 
Dauphin — Sophia  takes  her.  to  Italy  for  education — Joins  her  husband 
at  Venice,  his  headquarters — They  return  to  Hanover — Death  of  the 
Elector  Palatine — Letter  of  condolence  to  Sophia  from  Princess  of  Orange 
— Sophia  sends  her  eldest  son  to  England  to  court  the  Lady  Anne  of 
York — Recalls  him  to  marry  Sophia  Dorothea  of  Zelle — Takes  her  daugh- 
ter to  Italy — They  are  invited  to  the  court  of  France — Given  apartments 
at  Versailles — Stay  for  a  year — Disappointed  regarding  the  Dauphin — 
Sophia  marries  her  daughter  to  the  heir  of  Brandenburg — Sophia  left 
alone  at  Hanover — Her  letters  to  Ilten — Her  only  companion  a  little 
Turkish  captive — Her  letter , concerning  the  invasion  of  England  by  the 
Prince  of  Orange — Her  letter  concerning  Mary  11.  put  into  the  hands  of 
James  11. — Her  letter  to  Lord  Halifax — She  means  to  send  her  son 
Frederic  to  England  —  His  death  in  battle — Sophia  sets  Leibnitz  to 
design  tapestry — Her  sojourn  at  the  baths  of  Loccum — Her  corre- 
spondence on  the  religion  of  William  III. — Her  remarks  to  Leibnitz 
on  the  petition  of  Heinson. 

When  the  family  cornpact  of  1665  was  settled,  Sophia's 
husband  frequently  left  her,  taking  long  absences  on  mili- 
tary affairs  at  Venice,  that  powerful  state  having  hired  his 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


315 


troops  to  do  battle  with  the  Turks,  who  were  encroaching 
on  every  side.  Bishop  as  he  termed  himself,  Ernest  Au- 
guste  began  to  show  great  military  genius  and  ardour  ;  the 
worst  was,  his  morals  did  not  improve  in  his  campaigns. 

Louis  XIV.  had  commissioned  the  Marquis  de  Gourville, 
as  a  diplomat  who  knew  German,  to  seek  the  acquaint- 
ance of  the  princely  Brunswick  brethren,  and  see  whether 
they  could  be  induced  to  place  their  military  forces  at  his 
disposition.  Through  the  medium  of  the  French  habitues 
ever  swarming  round  Eleanore  d'Olbreuse,  the  consort  of  the 
Duke  of  Zelle,  the  Marquis  de  Gourville  was  introduced  to 
that  prince,  and  soon  admitted  into  his  confidence,  insomuch 
that  he  informed  him  of  his  reasons  for  choosing  the  lower 
rank  of  Duke  of  Zelle  in  the  family  partition,  "  because  it 
was  w^orth  a  hundred  thousand  crowns  more  than  Hanover, 
Gottingen,  and  Grubenhagen  to  boot.''^  When  the  war- 
like Bishop  Ernest  Auguste  arrived  at  Brussels,  Gourville 
learned  forthwith  that  his  summer  sojourns  at  Venice  had 
been  ruinously  expensive  to  his  dominions.  In  truth,  it 
w^as  at  Venice,  then  the  sink  of  all  iniquity  both  of  eastern 
and  western  Europe,  that  the  bishop-soldier  first  began  to 
neglect  the  wife  he  had  wooed  and  won,  and  cherish  those 
of  his  neighbours;  and  such  proceedings  are  usually  ex- 
pensive. 

Gourville  learned,  in  the  course  of  his  conferences  with 
the  two  princely  Brunswick  brothers,  that  they,  Duke  and 
Bishop,  had  at  their  disposal  ten  thousand  stout  German 
foot-soldiers  and  four  thousand  cavaliers  (black  Brunswick 
legions) — for  that  is  the  information  he  sends  to  Louis  XIV. 
and  de  Lionne,  his  Minister  of  War — and  these  were  to  be 
had  for  a  consideration.  Louis  XIV.  responded,  that  if  the 
said  Duke  and  Bishop  would  fight  against  Spain,  they 
should  have  for  their  pains  all  the  towns  and  cities  they 
could  take  from  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  and  many  a 
good  bag  of  crowns  to  boot.  These  intrigues  commenced 
some  months  after  the  death  of  the  childless  Brunswick 
sovereign.  Christian  Louis.  Towards  the  spring  of  1667  a 
great  family  council  was  held  by  the  Guelphs  at  Brussels, 
^  Goiirville's  Memoirs  :  Maestricht. 


316 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


for  settling  their  affairs  in  general  concerning  wedlock  and 
dominion,  and  in  it  Sophia  comes  on  the  scene.  Gourville 
exceedingly  admired  her  beauty,  grace,  and  lively  good- 
humour.  But  he  added,  that  "  she  was  much  addicted  to 
laughing  at  people  to  their  faces,  only  her  skill  in  raillery 
was  such  that  they  never  found  it  out/'  Her  Highness 
seems,  according  to  his  delineation  of  her  character,  to  have 
been  one  of  the  early  inventresses  of  persiflage  and  quizzing. 
These  accomplishments,  like  many  other  of  the  evil  qualities 
of  the  great,  after  flourishing  through  the  last  century  and 
parjt  of  the  present,  have  become  decidedly  low-caste  and 
vulgar,  and  have  fallen  to  the  basest  of  the  European  popu- 
lation. 

Directly  Gourville  unfolded  his  mission  to  Duke  George 
William  and  Bishop  Ernest,  the  Duchess  Sophia  was  seized 
with  an  extreme  wish  to  have  the  management  of  him  entirely 
in  her  own  hands.  There  were  two  other  duchesses  of  her 
family,  wives  of  her  elder  brothers-in-law — the  French  wife 
of  George  William,  Duke  of  Zelle,  whose  morganatic  mar- 
riage had  just  been  enlarged  into  a  princely  and  real  one, 
and  likewise  the  wife  of  John  Frederic,  Duke  of  Hanover, 
Benedicta,  daughter  of  Sophia's  own  brother  Edward,  and 
the  heiress  of  Nevers.  Sophia  had  brought  with  her  in  her 
travelling-caleche  the  two  hopes  of  the  line  of  Brunswick, 
her  eldest  sons,  George  and  Frederick,  then  of  the  ages 
of  eight  and  seven. 

Perhaps  the  fair  Sophia,  after  having  exhibited  the  heirs- 
male  with  which  she  had  adorned  the  family,  wished  to 
escape  from  the  precedence  of  her  sisters-in-law,  and  like- 
wise to  enter  into  diplomacy  with  M.  Gourville  ;  for,''  says 
that  statesman,  the  Duchess  of  Osnabruck  declared  her  sons 
were  ill ;  that  change  of  air  was  wanted  for  them  ;  and, 
though  nothing  in  the  world  ailed  these  two  petit  messieurs, 
she  planned  a  tour,  and  invited  me  to  accompany  her." 
To  this  arrangement  the  French  diplomat  gladly  consented, 
supposing,  doubtless,  that  he,  "  the  valet  Gourville,"  as 
Michelet  terms  him  in  his  late  brilliant  work,  was  to  be  the 
chevalier  seul  with  the  bright  and  lively  Duchess,  while  her 
boys  and  maid  were  to  travel  in  the  other  caliche,  especially 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


317 


as  he  had  seen  her  spouse,  his  Highness  the  Bishop,  set 
off  the  preceding  morning.  He  was,  however,  annoyed 
and  disappointed  to  the  last  degree  ;  for,  early  on  the 
morning  appointed,  out  issued  the  bright  Duchess  before 
sunrise,  and  entered  her  caleche,  placing  her  two  little  mes- 
sieurs on  the  seat  before  her — indubitably  the  said  petit 
messieurs  were  obliged  to  be  mightily  well-behaved — and 
when  she  had  wheeled  off,  up  drew  another  caleche,  with  a 
Poitevin  demoiselle  therein,  Marsilliare  by  name,  who  was, 
it  is  true,  excessively  handsome,  and,  he  adds,  was  much 
to  the  taste  of  Count  de  Waldeck,"  a  renowned  Dutch 
general  of  Brunswick  cavalry.  With  the  Poitevin  demoi- 
selle, who  seems  to  have  been  chamber-woman  to  the 
Duchess  Sophia,  the  French  diplomat  was  placed  vis-a-vis 
in  caleche  the  second,  to  his  infinite  mortification;  for  he 
declares  he  underwent  great  raillery  (meaning  teazing  and 
tormenting)  on  all  sides  concerning  this  journey  from  every 
one,  even  from  his  own  King's  minister,  de  Lionne. 

The  fair  Poitevin  was  the  countrywoman,  and  had  pro- 
bably been  the  servant,  of  Eleanore  d'Olbreuse,  the  recently 
acknowledged  Duchess  of  Zelle.  Gourville  takes  care  not 
to  explain  his  own  antecedents,  but  Sophia  knew  them  well. 
He  had  not  always  held  the  honourable  office  of  envoy, 
having  begun  life  as  valet-de-chambre  to  the  great  Conde,  1 
and  it  may  be  remembered  that  Conde's  heir  married 
another  of  Sophia's  nieces,  sister  of  Benedicta,  Duchess  of 
Brunswick,  to  whom  Gourville  had  long  been  a  confidential 
agent,  though  of  lowly  degree.  Thus  Sophia  knew  well 
that  the  vain  Frenchman,  who,  forgetting  his  humble  origin, 
thought  himself  a  proper  companion  for  her  in  a  vis-a-vis 
carriage,  was  much  better  disposed  of  as  travelling  associate 
of  her  chambermaid.  She  seems  always  to  have  acted 
with  similar  caution  ;  and  such  exercise  of  tact  and  judg- 
ment led  her  through  life  with  a  name  unscathed,  notwith-  - 
standing  her  vivacity  of  disposition. 

Gourville  was  evidently  enraged  at  having  to  do  the 
agreeable  tete-a-tete  for  two  long  days  as  travelling  com- 
panion to  La  Marsilliare,  a  girl  of  low  degree.    The  Bishop 
^  Dangeau's  Memoires,  vol.  i. 


318 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOYER. 


of  Osnaburg  had  ordered  relays  of  horses  for  his  consort 
and  her  baggage.  The  Marquis  de  Gourville  especially 
notes  that  the  Duchess's  two  caleches  were  followed  by  a 
charrettCj  on  which  were  carried  her  trunks  of  clothes  and 
mattresses,  therefore  she  did  not  trust  her  person  to  the 
bedding  she  found  at  German  inns  on  her  journey.  Her 
tour  ended  at  the  Hague,  and  then  de  Gourville  has  more 
to  say  touching  troops  and  contingents  than  is  pleasant  to 
record,  conveyed  in  most  cautious  and  tortuous  phraseo- 
logy. The  diplomacy  ended  fruitlessly  at  that  time,  for  he 
was  in  an  evil  mind  concerning  the  prank  played  him  by 
the  fair  Duchess,  although  the  princely  Brunswickers  made 
him  a  present  of  six  famous  black  mares,  with  white  manes 
and  tails,  for  his  coach  and  six  ;  and  some  saddle-horses  of  as 
queer  an  appearance  for  his  outriders — all  which,  being  con- 
sidered very  precious,  de  Gourville  made  over  to  his  royal 
master,  Louis  XIV.,  when  he  returned  to  him  with  very 
angry  feelings  towards  Sophia.  He  could  not  forgive  her 
clever  arrangement  of  providing  him — the  valet^  raised  to 
the  rank  of  Marquis  and  envoy — ^with  the  chambermaid  from 
his  own  province,  to  bear  him  company.  It  was  well  he 
kept  the  incident  a  secret  from  his  contemporary  Moliere. 
•  The  martial  Brunswickers,  after  all,  determined  against 
France,  and  fought,  until  the  peace  of  Nimeguen,  on 
the  side  of  the  Emperor.  During  these  campaigns  Sophia 
remained  in  the  deepest  retirement,  educating  her  little 
ones,  aided  by  her  niece,  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  and  her  for- 
mer governess,  Madame  Harling.  At  Iburg  the  event 
occurred  which  Sophia  always  considered  as  the  most  im- 

*  Gourville  had  been  in  his  youth  valet- de-chambre  to  the  Duke  de  la 
Rochefoucaulfc,  author  of  the  "  Maxims  ; afterwards  he  attached  himself 
to  the  Prince  de  Conde ;  he  served  him  during  all  the  civil  wars 
against  the  Court,  called  those  of  the  Fronde.  His  efforts,  aided  by  the 
Princess  Palatine,  mother  of  the  Princess  de  Conde,  effected  the  peace. 
He  made  an  immense  fortune,  but  not  inconsistently  with  respectable 
conduct.  The  King  loaded  him  with  favour  and  marks  of  honour.  When 
he  went  to  visit  the  Princess  Palatine,  the  widow  of  Sophia's  brother, 
who  was  living  in  Paris,  and  found  there  Gourville,  he  used  to  order  him 
to  sit  at  his  card-table  and  join  his  play.  Gourville  had  great  talents  in 
finance  ;  he  showed  himself  worthy  of  his  good  fortune  by  his  gratitude  to 
his  benefactors.  This  is  the  flattering  portrait  drawn  of  him  by  Madame 
de  Genlis ;  others  have  contemned  him  as  an  adventurer. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  IIANOYER. 


319 


portant  of  her  lite,  being  the  birth  of  her  only  and  beloved 
daughter,  October  2,  1668.  She  named  this  child,  who 
possessed  her  entire  and  almost  exclusive  love,  Sophia 
Charlotte.  The  young  Princess  was  beautiful,  though  petite 
in  person,!  and  her  abilities  and  charm  of  manner  were 
perceptible  from  a  very  early  period  of  life.  As  soon  as 
she  could  speak,  the  Duchess  Sophia  devoted  herself  to  her 
Instruction.  Madame  Harling,  who  had  educated  her  niece, 
was  now  governess  to  the  daughter.  All  attainments,  all 
knowledge^  were  remembered,  excepting  the  one  thing  need- 
ful, which  German  princesses  of  the  seventeenth  century 
heeded  not,  and  its  savants  contemned. 

Sophia  sometimes  visited  her  lord  in  his  winter  quarters 
on  the  frontiers  of  Italy,  and  sometimes  they  met  at  her 
brother's  castle  of  Heidelberg,  and  sometimes  at  his  sove- 
reign's court  at  Hanover.  But  her  establishment  was 
usually  at  Iburg  or  Osnaburg.  These  old  episcopal  palaces 
she  peopled  with  a  numerous  train  of  infant  Brunswickers, 
besides  the  two  petit  messieurs  she  brought  in  her  caleche 
to  the  family  congress  at  Brussels.  Three  boys  besides  she 
enumerates  in  the  autograph  list  she  gave  to  Leibnitz — 
"  Max  and  the  twins,''  as  she  calls  them ;  they  had  been 
born  at  Osnaburg  in  the  two  years  the  family  had  been 
forced  to  retreat  before  the  religious  insurrection  at  Iburg. 
Charles  Philip  was  born  the  succeeding  year,  and  another 
rather  unexpectedly  at  Heidelberg,  on  one  of  her  journeys, 
when  she  went  with  her  niece  Elizabeth  Charlotte  to 
visit  the  Elector.  She  had  afterwards  a  seventh,  called 
Ernest  Auguste,  created  Duke  of  York  on  the  accession  ot 
his  eldest  brother  George  to  the  English  throne.  Sophia  had 
little  time  therefore  to  cultivate  her  tendencies  to  political 
intrigue,  for  in  the  education  of  these  infants  she  occu- 
pied herself  w4th  the  utmost  earnestness  and  delight.  Her 
daughter,  whose  petite  person  promised  exquisite  beauty, 
was  to  be  the  most  accomplished  princess  in  Europe. 
Sophia  Charlotte,  at  the  earliest  possible  age, .  received 
occasional  instruction*  from  Gotfried  Leibnitz,  even  as  her 
aunts,  the  Princesses  Palatine  Ehzabeth  and  Louisa,  and 
^  Histoire  de  Brandenburg,  by  Frederic  the  Great. 


320 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


her  mother  herself,  had  in  youth  been  the  disciples  of 
Descartes. 

The  favourite  philosopher  of  Sophia  was  decidedly  the 
most  extraordinary  man  in  Germany.  Yet  his  biographies 
and  correspondences  known  to  the  English^  are  assuredly 
the  dullest  of  all  conglomerations — abstruse  with  diagrams, 
angles,  and  parallelograms,  illustrated  with  the  retrograded 
English,  written  in  the  age  of  materialism.  Who  can  ima- 
gine that  Gotfrled  Leibnitz  had  a  biography  ? — or  that 
he  lived  any  life  but  in  an  old  arm-chair  working  pro- 
blems, stimulated  by  heavy  beer,  until  he  crept  into  a 
grave  scarcely  duller  than  his  life?  Nevertheless,  truth 
compels  us  to  view  Leibnitz  in  a  very  different  light,  more 
like  the  caballstlcal  Seni  of  whom  Schiller  has  made  such 
poetical  use  in  his  magnificent  Wallenstein.  Several  fine 
portraits  exist  of  Leibnitz  ;  they  prove  that  he  was  a  hand- 
some person,  with  watching  eyes  and  a  smiling  mouth  ;  and 
the  eyes,  though  so  piercing  and  observant,  smile  in  unison 
with  the  lips.  Wigs  defy  the  phrenologist,  yet  there  is 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  forehead  of  Leibnitz  was  as  fine 
as  that  of  Newton,  his  rival  and  antagonist 

Sophia  became  acquainted  with  Leibnitz*  when  he  filled 

1  We  cannot  find  in  any  of  his  biographies^  not  even  in  French,  Sophia's 
name  mentioned,  although  the  letters  that  passed  between  them,  still 
extant,  give  the  most  information  concerning  the  incidents  of  both  their 
lives. 

2  Leibnitz  was  the  son  of  a  Lutheran  clergyman,  professor  of  law  at 
Leipsic.  He  was  born  1646.  His  father  died  when  he  was  about  seven  years 
of  age,  leaving  his  widow  and  children  to  the  famine  and  miseries  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War.  How  they  were  supported  no  one  knew,  excepting  from 
the  casual  bounty  of  his  uncle  Paul,  who  rose  to  be  a  field-marshal  in  the 
Emperor's  service,  and  was  ennobled.  In  1664  Leibnitz  became  Master  of 
Arts  at  Jena ;  but  having  a  desperate  quarrel  with  his  professor's  wife,  he 
went  to  Nuremberg,  in  which  ancient  and  necromantic  city  he  wrote  on 
alchymy  and  the  secret  sciences,  so  well  as  to  be  appointed  secretary  to  a 
club  or  fraternity  of  alchymists.  At  one  of  their  Sabbats  he  met  the 
Baron  de  Boinberg,  a  famous  alchymist  and  magician,  chancellor  to  the 
ecclesiastic  Elector  of  Mentz ;  and  he  in  course  of  time  introduced  him 
to  John  Frederic  Duke  of  Brunswick-Lunenburg,  the  most  notorious 
alchymist,  astrologer,  and  magician  among  the  princes  of  Europe.  The 
rest  of  the  life  of  Leibnitz  is  intimately  interwoven  with  that  of  Sophia,  and 
Ernest  Auguste  her  husband,  as  in  time  he  became  their  prime-minister. 
He  is  termed  in  his  French  biographies  Baron  Leibnitz  ;  for  his  uncle, 
Marshal  Paul  Leibnitz,  was  ennobled  by  Ferdinand  IIL  for  having  fought 
for  the  Empire  and  Popery  throughout  the  Tliirty  Years'  War.  From  him 
the  philosopher  inherited  rank  and  title. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


321 


the  respectable  offices  of  alcliymist,  and  we  fear  conjuror  and 
astrologer,  to  John  Frederic,  her  husband's  elder  brother 
and  sovereign.  Of  course  all  his  biographers  have  glossed 
over  and  explained  away  such  a  queer  entry  into  public  as 
much  as  possible ;  but  there,  at  the  portal  of  his  life,  the 
real  circumstance  stands ;  and  it  is  as  true  that  Leibnitz 
was  not  at  all  ashamed  of  it,  and  often  looked  back  to  his 
occupation  as  secretary  to  a  club  of  alchyraists  and  astro- 
logers, in  his  half-starved  youth  at  Nuremberg,  as  his  mer- 
riest and  happiest  days.  No  doubt  they  were,  and  many 
a  lively  tale  the  brilliant  alchymist  had  to  tell  of  that 
strange  period.  Leibnitz  was  as  warmly  patronised  by 
Sophia's  lord,  the  Bishop  Ernest  Auguste,  as  by  the  reigning 
Duke  of  Brunswick,  who,  withdrawing  as  much  as  possible 
from  public  life  on  account  of  his  unpopular  Roman  Catholic 
religion,  and  tendency  to  the  occult  sciences,  left  the  ambi- 
tious Bishop  in  the  government  of  his  dominions,  and  sov- 
ereign in  all  but  name.  Under  the  patronage  of  Sophia, 
the  philosopher  Leibnitz  shone  as  physician,  astronomer, 
mathematician,  herald,  historian,  poet,  genealogist,  theolo- 
gian, besides  his  original  employments  of  alchymist  and 
astrologer.  Ah  !  unfortunate  philosophy,  what  odd  steps 
you  had  to  put  your  feet  upon  to  climb  into  notice  in 
days  not  so  very  distant  from  our  own !  ^ 

^  An  anecdote  of  the  times  connects  the  name  of  Leibnitz  again  with 
alchymy,  and  at  the  same  time  with  one  of  the  most  curious  discoveries  in 
legitimate  chemistry.  A  German  alchymist,  of  the  name  of  Brant,  who 
claimed  the  honours  of  a  learned  mediciner,  but  after  whose  name  it  is  to  be 
feared  Q.D.,  and  not  M.D.,  ought  to  have  been  inscribed — discovered  a  won- 
drous concoction  which,  he  affirmed,  would  turn  the  baser  metals  at  pleasure 
into  gold  or  silver.  The  origin  was  a  profound  secret,  but  the  article  was  sold 
to  the  alchymist  Duke  of  Hanover,  John  Frederic.  That  prince  sat  in  con- 
clave on  the  same  with  his  factotum  Leibnitz,  who  advised  his  patron  to 
consult  Charles  II.  and  his  Royal  Society  as  to  its  composition.  Accordingly, 
John  Frederic  sent  Leibnitz  to  England.  Here  King  Charles  II.  and  his 
cousin  Prince  Rupert,  both  good  chemists,  assisted  by  the  learned  Boyle, 
examined  the  precious  matter ;  but  its  wonderful  effects,  they  agreed,  were 
not  for  transmuting  the  baser  metals  into  gold  or  silver.  Leibnitz  did  not 
take  the  merit  of  the  discovery ;  he  freely  owned  it  belonged  to  Brant. 
When  Leibnitz  returned  to  Hanover,  his  Duke  was  by  no  means  inclined 
to  give  up  the  idea  of  the  gold  and  silver  transmutation  ;  he  sent  for  Brant 
to  his  court,  and  before  himself  and  Leibnitz  induced  him  to  work  his  new 
discovery  :  the  result  was — phosphorus. —  Vie  de  Leibnitz,  Neufville. 

VOL.  VIII.  X 


322 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


Among  the  incidents  of  Sophia's  life  at  this  time,  it  is 
certain  that  she  made  personal  acquaintance  with  her  cousin 
Mary  Princess  of  Orange,  daughter  of  James  11. ;  and  soon 
after  the  marriage  of  the  former,  kept  up  with  her  an 
intimate  and  familiar  correspondence  by  letter,  as  likewise 
did  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  Duchess  of  Orleans  ;  but  the  diffi- 
culty is  to  mention  with  precision  when  these  three  prin- 
cesses first  became  known  to  each  other.  Every  hour  of  the 
short  life  of  Mary,  Princess  of  Orange  and  Queen  of  Great 
Britain,  seems  so  far  accounted  for,  that  no  time  or  date 
for  the  visits  of  Sophia  and  Elizabeth  Charlotte  at  the 
Hague  can  be  pointed  out.  But  they  might  have  become 
personally  acquainted  when  Mary  went  to  Aix-la-Chapelle 
for  her  health,  which  she  did  in  August  1679  ;  and  as  it 
was  during  the  treaty  for  the  peace  of  Nimeguen,  and  all 
the  political  powers  were  astir,  Sophia  was  there ;  indeed, 
she  seldom  passed  a  year  without  visiting  Aix. 

The  death  of  John  Frederick,  the  reigning  Duke  of 
Brunswick-Lunenburg,  who  expired  suddenly  when  journey- 
ing to  Rome,  called  the  husband  of  Sophia  to  sovereign 
rank,  according  to  the  family  compact  made  with  George 
William,  Duke  of  Zelle.  Sophia,  now  the  wife  of  a  reigning 
prince,  became  extremely  anxious  to  visit  Paris,  where 
Louis  XIV.  then  set  the  pattern  to  all  European  royalty.^ 

Her  journey  to  Paris  was  planned  and  eagerly  awaited 
by  the  colony  of  German  princesses  of  her  house,  located  at 
that  gay  city.  Her  nieces,  Elizabeth  Charlotte  Duchess  of 
Orleans,  and  the  Princess  of  Conde,'^  bore  the  first  rank 
among  the  ladies  of  France.  Anne,  Duchess  of  Mantua, 
sister  to  the  Princess  of  Conde,  wrote  to  her  the  plan  of 
marches  beginning  with  a  burst  of  affection  to  her  she  called 

chere  soeur,''  whom  she  entreats  with  great  passion  to 
make  a  little  journey  to  France — Madame  [her  niece  of 
Orleans]  wishes  it  too  so  much.  She  speaks  of  it  every  day, 
and  all  day  long/'    She  believes  "  that  if  Sophia  keeps  an 

1  Oeorge  IV.  MSS.,  edited  by  Gargans.    Add.  MSS.,  Brit.  Museum. 

2  Daughter  of  Edward,  Palatine  Prince. 

(ieorge  IV.  MSS.,  140.  Add.  MSS.,  Brit.  Museum— Anne  of  Mantua  to 
the  Duclicss  of  Osnabruck. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  IIANOYER. 


323 


entire  incognita,  nothing  could  be  easier  than  corning  as  far 
as  the  Abbey  of  Maubisson,  where  there  can  occur  no  diffi- 
culty as  to  ceremony  (or  etiquette).  There  you  will  have  the 
felicity  of  passing  some  days  without  restraint  with  Madame 
Louise,  your  sister,  who  will  be  transported.  As  for  me,  I 
shall  have  joy  more  than  I  can  express,  and  how  we  shall 
talk  and  enter  into  the  real  depth  of  all  matters  !  The 
Duchess  of  Hanover^  will  come  to  see  us  when  Monselgneur, 
your  husband,  at  Venice,  comes  here." 

Sophia  travelled  in  company  with  the  Duchess  of  Meck- 
lenburg, one  of  the  GalHcised  princesses  of  Germany, 
of  her  brother  Edward's  family.  The  young  daughter  of 
Sophia  was  of  the  party,  in  order  to  learn  French  graces 
at  the  fountain-head.  They  safely  arrived  at  the  Abbey 
of  Maubisson,  where  Sophia  was  clasped  to  the  bosom 
of  her  long  lost  sister,  the  Abbess  Louisa.  Thither  came 
the  Duchess  of  Orleans/  Sophia's  friend,  pupil,  and  cor- 
respondent, when  she  heard  her  aunt  had  arrived.  Their 
loving  embraces  and  rapture  of  meeting  drew  a  remark 
from  the  correspondent  at  Paris  of  Henry  Sidney,  the  ex- 
quisite of  his  day,  that  the  meeting  of  these  princesses 
"  did  savour  more  of  the  heartiness  of  Germany  than  the 
gentleness  of  France/'^ — meaning  evidently  the  gentility 
of  France.  However,  Louisa,  Sophia,  and  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans,  loved  one  another  with  an  honest  open-heartedness 
incomprehensible  to  this  coxcomb,  and  were  not  ashamed 
of  showing  their  affection.  Sidney  affirms  that  Madame 
de  Mecklenbourg  wished  much  to  pass  through  Holland, 

^  Benedicta,  wife  of  John  Frederic.  She  is  mentioned  as  his  young 
widow  in  another  letter  dated  November  1680.  She  was  at  Paris  educating 
her  three  little  daughters  as  Roman  Catholics.  One  became  Empress  of 
Germany. 

^  The  Elector  Palatine  Charles  Louis  had,  notwithstanding  his  grimace 
of  Protestant  profession,  obliged  his  only  daughter,  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  to 
marry  Philippe,  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  at  the  same  time  to  renounce  her 
Protestant  religion.  When  she  announced  to  him  that  she  had  professed 
herself  a  Roman  Catholic  on  her  way  to  be  married  at  Metz,  (as  indeed  he 
had  agreed  she  should),  he  answered  her  with  great  affection  and  satisfac- 
tion, advising  her  attention  to  those  points  in  which  both  religions  agreed 
with  general  Christianity.  His  letter,  dated  1671,  may  be  seen.— Geo. 
IV.  MSS.,  Gargan.    Additional  MSS.,  British  Museum. 

Saville  to  Henry  Sidney,  August  28,  1679  ;  Sidney  Diary,  &C.5  edited 
by  Mr  Blencowe,  vol.  i.,  p.  102. 


324 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


but  Sophia  would  not  go  there,  because  she  did  not  like  to 
recall  the  scenes  of  her  youth,  where  she  suffered  infinite 
deprivations  and  mortifications. 

The  Court  of  France  was  occupied  at  this  time  with  pro- 
cessions, congratulations,  public  entries,  and  solemn  f^tes  in 
honour  of  the  marriage  of  the  beautiful  Maria  Louisa  of 
Orleans  with  the  imbecile  Carlos  II.,  King  of  Spain.  Sophia 
witnessed  these  high  ceremonials  as  the  aunt  of  the  royal 
bride's  step-mother,  and  near  cousin  of  the  bride  herself. 
She  was  guest  in  the  Orleans  palaces,  and  sometimes  in 
those  of  her  great  niece,  the  Princess  of  Cond^,  for  she 
was  closely  connected  with  all  these  princesses  at  Paris, 
who  at  that  period  were  flourishing  in  close  vicinity  to  the 
throne. 

When  the  Brunswick  princesses  were  the  guests  of  the 
Princess  de  Conde,  the  old  retainer  of  that  house,  M.  de 
Gourville,  came  to  renew  his  homage  to  the  Duchess  So- 
phia. He  opened  a  new  scheme  of  flattering  diplomacy, 
insinuating  that  his  royal  master  admired  the  princess,  and 
the  young  opening  beauty  of  her  accomplished  daughter, 
with  such  sincerity,  that,  if  religion  did  not  oppose  the  plan, 
he  knew  not  where  he  could  find  a  consort  better  worthy 
of  the  hand  of  the  Dauphin. If  the  following  anecdote 
is  true — and  as  it  is  mentioned  by  the  German  Duchess 
of  Orleans,  her  niece,  as  well  as  Gourville,  it  must  be  so — 
religion  would  not  have  stood  long  in  Sophia's  way,  where 
any  object  of  ambition  was  concerned.  When  Gourville 
first  was  permitted  to  see  the  young  daughter  of  Sophia, 
then  in  her  twelfth  year,  he  said,  This  is  a  fair  and  beau- 
tiful princess,  worthy  of  the  highest  destiny.  May  I  ask 
what  religion  she  has  been  brought  up  In 

"  She  has  none  at  present,''  answered  Sophia.  When 
we  know  what  prince  will  be  her  husband,  she  will  be  in- 
structed in  his  religion." 

Certainly  this  was  no  bad  arrangement  for  peace  and 
quiet  In  a  royal  household:  but  the  inventor  of  a  scheme 
whicli  has  given  many  a  matrimonial  convert  to  the  Greek 
and  Roman  creeds — as  empresses  of  Russia  and  Germany, 
*  History  of  the  House  of  Brandenburg,  by  Frederic  the  Great. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


325 


or  Austria — was  by  no  means  likely  to  have  added  herself 
to  the  list  of  Protestant  martyrs.  Her  flatterers  in  the 
reign  of  Queen  Anne  revived  the  story  of  her  own  conquest 
of  Ferdinand  IV.  titular  King  of  Hungary,  claiming  for 
her  a  sort  of  minor  martyrdom  in  having  refused  the  Im- 
perial crown  in  order  to  preserve  her  Calvinist  principles. 
But  her  temporising  practice  in  regard  to  her  daughter's 
religious  training  surely  settles  that  historical  question 
beyond  dispute. 

Sophia  was  attended  to  Paris  by  Leibnitz,  who,  no  longer 
impeded  by  the  fantastic  shadowings  which  had  hung  over 
him  since  his  debut  in  the  old  necromantic  Nuremberg,  leav- 
ing alchymy  and  astrology  to  the  owls  and  bats  in  the  fune- 
ral vault  of  John  Frederic,  stepped  out  into  the  light  of 
modern  philosophy  as  the  leader  of  its  progress.  Thence- 
forth Leibnitz  may  be  considered  as  the  minister,  friend, 
and  factotum  of  the  reigning  Duke  Ernest  Auguste,  and 
his  brilliant  consort. 

After  Sophia's  visit  to  her  loving  relatives  had  passed,  the 
Abbess  Princess  Louisa  wrote^to  her  cousin,  the  Duchess  of 
Mecklenburg : — 

"  Since  I  have  been  nun  professed,  I  have  never  shed  so  many  tears  as  I 
have  done  at  my  parting  with  my  sister,  the  Duchess  d'Osnabruc.  Since 
then  I  feel  as  if  a  stone  laid  on  my  heart,  the  dead  weight  of  which  op- 
presses me,  and  I  know  not  how  to  cast  my  eyes  round  this  place  where  I 
saw  her  last  without  sadness.  All  which  proves  to  me  that  I  am  yet  too 
much  attached  to  those  creatures  who  are  good  enough  to  testify  friend- 
ship for  me,  and  that  it  was  for  my  spiritual  good  that  God  has  separated 
me  from  a  sister  so  amiable.  I  am  obliged  to  your  Highness  for  letting 
me  know  her  news,  for  they  are  the  first  I  heard  about  her  since  her  de- 
parture. It  seemed  long  to  hear  that  she  had  arrived  at  home  safe  and 
well,  with  her  dear  little  princess.  I  fear  they  suffered  as  much  from  cold 
on  their  homeward  journey  as  they  did  from  heat  when  they  came  here. 

.  .  La  Mere  Gabrielle  is  going  fast — she  cannot  utter  another 
word  through  weakness ;  but  the  last  she  said  to  me  was  a  fervent  prayer 
for  the  conversion  of  my  sister,  the  Duchess  of  Osnabruc.  If  such  prayers 
are  heard,  I  shall  be  content ;  for,  if  never  more  to  see  my  dear  sister  in 
this  world,  I  should  see  her  in  a  better — I  should  meet  her  in  Paradise." 

Sophia,  after  leaving  the  French  court,  pursued  her 
journey  to  Italy,  whither  she  took  her  young  daughter  to 

^  Gargan  s  MSS.,  British  Museum. 


326 


SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


complete  her  education  with  the  practical  attainments 
gained  by  travel  In  the  acquirement  of  languages,  and  the 
study  of  the  fine  arts.  Ernest  Auguste  awaited  his  wife  and 
daughter  at  Venice,  which  republic,  finding  that  the  Turks 
threatened  the  Italian  possessions  in  the  Morea,  had  nego- 
tiated for  the  hire  of  the  Brunswick  army  to  defend  the 
same.  While  Sophia  and  her  daughter  were  travelling 
in  Italy,  the  Duke-Bishop  established  his  headquarters  at 
Venice.  He  took  the  homeward  route  with  his  princesses 
in  the  winter,  and  wrote  to  his  brother-in-law,  Charles 
Louis  the  Elector  Palatine,  a  letter  announcing,  with  no 
little  satisfaction,  that  they  were  home  safely  from  Italy.^ 
Sophia  was  left  with  the  reins  of  government  in  her  hands 
the  ensuing  spring  of  1680,  when  her  lord  departed  for  his 
Venetian  command.  She  enacted  the  regent  with  some 
eclat,  aided  by  Leibnitz  ;  but  whether  by  her  fault  or  that 
of  her  lord's  extravagance  in  the  seat  of  Italian  luxury — 
Venice — the  treasury  at  Hanover  presented  an  alarming 
vacuity  at  the  end  of  the  year  ;  and  as  even  the  philosophy 
of  Leibnitz  had  not  made  sufficient  progress  at  that  period 
as  to  call  debt  and  deficiency  ''funds,"  the  prospect  was 
considered  disheartening. 

Sophia  and  Mary  IL  met  on  terms  of  friendship  when 
the  latter,  as  Princess  of  Orange,  was  the  guest  of  the  Elec- 
tor Palatine,  Charles  Louis — a  fact  to  which  the  Princess 
bears  testimony  in  her  letter  of  condolence  to  Sophia  on  the 
death  of  her  brother,  dated  ^  De  Turhaut,  September  20, 
1680.  Mary's  letter  is  exceedingly  kind,  though  ceremoni- 
ous. She  writes  "  not  only  as  a  person  who  has  the  honour 
to  be  allied  to  her,  but,''  she  says,  "  who  had  received  many 
kindnesses  and  honours  from  the  Elector  when  she  had  the 
happiness  to  stay  with  him — where  she  does  not  say,  but  pro- 
bably at  Heidelberg.  "  I  assure  you,  Madame,"  writes  she, 
"  that  the  little  diff'erences  we  have  had  on  affairs  could  not 
hinder  me  from  acknowledging  the  merit  of  this  great 
prince,  or  hinder  my  gratitude  for  all  the  courtesies  I  re- 
ceived from  him /'    Probably  Sophia  was  the  only  person 

^  Oargan's  Rccueil  des  Pieces.    MSS.  Hanover,    British  Museum. 
2  Ibid. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


327 


in  the  world  who  wept  for  the  death  of  the  great  Elector 
lier  brother  ;  and  Mary  of  Orange  writes  as  if  she  really 
required  consolation.  The  Princess  concludes  with  phrases 
which  were  very  fashionable  in  her  youth  ;  we  meet  them 
constantly  in  the  early  letters  of  the  Marlboroughs,  and  her 
sister  Queen  Anne,  where  they  have  been  ill  understood. 
She  says  that  she  is  with  much  passion/'  and  "  more  than 
any  one,  her  very  humble  cousine  and  servante,  Marie, 
Princesse  d'Orange.'' 

At  the  baths  of  Pyrmont,  Sophia  and  her  young  daughter, 
then  thirteen  years  old,  passed  the  autumn  of  1681.  Here 
they  met,  for  the  first  time,  Frederic,  the  Electoral  Prince 
of  Brandenburg,  who  brought  to  the  baths  his  dying  wife 
for  the  amelioration  of  her  health.^  The  most  brilliant  hopes 
having  been  awakened  in  the  heart  of  Sophia  concerning 
the  disposal  of  her  accomplished  young  daughter,  perhaps 
she  would  have  shuddered  could  she  have  supposed  that  the 
petite  beauty  would  have  no  better  offer  than  the  rever- 
sion of  this  very  queer  and  odd-tempered  crookback's  hand. 
At  the  death  of  his  wife,  some  months  afterwards,  the 
Brandenburg  Prince  avowed  himself  in  despair,  and,  de- 
voting himself  to  life-long  widowerhood,  assumed  a  ring  in 
memoriam^  expressing  this  laudable  intention. 

Great  blame  has  been  cast  on  the  memory  of  Sophia 
in  reference  to  the  wretched  fate  of  her  daughter-in-law, 
Sophia  Dorothea  of  Zelle,  by  those  who  have  not  examined 
such  evidence  as  is  extant  connected  with  that  dark  histo- 
rical tragedy.  It  is  certain  that  Sophia,  by  one  active 
stroke  of  diplomacy,  broke  the  match  between  the  heir  of 
Brunswick- Wolfenbuttel  and  the  daughter  of  her  brother- 
in-law  of  Zelle.  If  that  were  a  crime,  she  did  it ;  but  she 
behaved  unexceptionably  to  the  poor  bride  after  she  had 
won  her  for  her  son.  The  under-current  of  events  which 
forced  Sophia  into  playing  a  part  much  like  the  prima 
donna  in  operatic  comedy,  has  never  been  entirely  deve- 
loped. The  fact  was,  that  the  hopes  of  Protestant  Europe 
being  fixed  on  her  family,  as  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  hope- 
lessly childless,  likewise  her  nephew  the  Elector  Palatine 
^  Lebender  Konigin  von  Preussen.    Varnhagen  von  Ense,  p.  19. 


328 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


Charles  Theodore,  it  was  needful  that  the  house  of  Han- 
over should  support  its  utmost  dignity  among  the  potentates 
of  Europe ;  but  the  marriage  between  the  Duke  of  Zelle's 
daughter  and  the  heir  of  the  chief  of  Brunswick  would  reduce 
it  to  very  narrow  means.  Moreover,  there  was  a  circum- 
stance which,  although  not  promulgated  for  years  afterwards, 
Sophia  knew  well  would  impair  the  Protestant  influence 
of  the  Guelphs ;  Antony  Ulric,  the  Duke  of  Brunswick- 
Wolfenbuttel,  was  secretly  a  Roman  Catholic.-^  Not  that 
either  Bishop-duke  Ernest  or  his  Duchess  cherished  any 
personal  antipathy  against  Papists,  though  their  political 
interests  were  in  violent  opposition  to  them  ;  indeed,  they 
were  marvellously  remiss  in  making  anti-Popish  demon- 
strations. Yet  how  could  they  conceal  from  themselves 
that,  if  their  elder  brother's  daugliter  wedded  the  heir  of 
Wolfenbuttel,  the  head  of  their  family,  he  would  throw  his 
weight  into  the  interest  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Stuarts,  and 
impede  their  Protestant  kinsman's  hopes  of  the  British 
empire?  Besides,  the  Duke  of  Zelle,  upon  whose  do- 
minions the  Duke  of  Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel  had  strong 
claims,  would  prefer  surrendering  them  to  his  grandchildren 
to  fulfilling  the  family  compact  he  had  made  with  Bishop 
Ernest,  his  younger  brother.  Then  would  the  aspiring 
branch  of  Hanover  be  limited  to  its  domains  in  possession, 
the  revenues  of  which  were  nearly  exhausted.  All  family 
interests — as  well  on  her  side  as  on  her  husband's — whether 
immediate  or  distant*  were  at  stake. 

The  wishes  of  Sophia  for  a  daughter-in-law  had,  in  the  first 
instance,  pointed  to  England.  In  her  own  breast  there  had 
at  a  former  day  once  existed  a  desire  of  reigning  in  Great 
Britain,  not  as  a  supplanter  of  the  heir,  but  as  his  wife  ; 
and  there  lurked  in  her  mind  some  secret  resentment  that 
her  cousin-german,  Charles  II.,  had  never  sued  for  her 
hand.^    Careless  Charles  had  not  given  the  matter  a  thought 

^  Polnitz  Memoires.  He  says,  "that  it  was  by  the  intrigues  of 
Sophia,  Electress  of  Hanover,  that  the  wretched  Princess  of  Zelle  was 
married  to  her  son  George  Louis  [afterwards  George  I.],  and  that  the 
mother  of  the  bride  was  as  much  opposed  to  the  wedlock  as  the  bride 
herRelf." 

2  Lord  Dartmouth's  Notes  on  Burnet's  History. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


329 


when  it  was  feasible,  at  the  earlier  time  of  his  exile  ;  he 
might  have  supposed  first  cousins  were  too  near  akin.  So 
did  not  Sophia,  it  seems  ;  and  she,  In  1682,  sent  her  eldest 
son  to  England  to  woo  the  daughter  of  her  cousln-german, 
the  Lady  Anne  of  York.  He  was  likewise  charged  with 
letters  from  his  lady -mother  to  both  the  royal  Stuart 
brothers,  asking  If  they  remembered  her  ? 

How  heartily  the  merry  monarch  received  his  young 
kinsman — how  he  remembered  his  cousin  Sophia  at  the  old 
gladsome  times  at  the  Hague  and  Breda,  when  they  were  all 
exiles  penniless  together — how  cordially  he  Inducted  him 
into  a  suite  of  Whitehall  apartments,  and  introduced  him  to 
kiss  the  hem  of  his  queen's  robe,  and  (according  to  cousinly 
privilege),  the  lips  of  the  Lady  Anne  of  York — has  been 
already  told  by  the  author  In  another  biography,  by  the 
assistance  of  a  most  amusing  French  letter  which  Duke 
George  Louis  himself  wrote  to  his  mother.^  English  diarists 
of  the  day  have  noted  his  visit  to  Oxford,  and  his  Induction 
as  Doctor  of  Laws.  Modern  writers  have  displayed  their 
own  Ignorance  by  sneering  at  George  Louis  as  an  uneducated 
man.  How  the  Oxford  dons  and  the  Hanoverian  Prince  set- 
tled the  remarkable  discrepancy  between  the  Continental 
pronunciation  of  Latin  and  the  English,  we  are  not  pre- 
pared to  say  ;  but  George  the  First  was  no  ignoramus.  He 
could  speak  Latin  as  a  vernacular  language,  and  wrote 
sprightly  French  letters  to  his  learned  lady-mother.  We 
only  wish  we  had  the  boulting  of  them  all  in  the  biogra- 
phical sieve.  These  are  acquirements  out  of  the  reach  of 
any  dunce,  howsoever  sedulously  he  may  be  crammed. 

In  the  midst  of  Duke  George's  English  honours,  courtly 
and  academic,  he  suddenly  ceased  his  courtship  to  the  Lady 
Anne,  and  returned  home.  He  had  arrived,  it  seems,  in 
the  very  height  of  the  notable  Popish  plot  concocted  be- 
tween William  of  Orange,  Titus  Gates,  and  Shaftesbury. 
The  Island  was  convulsed  with  political  agony.  The  judi- 
cial murder  of  the  aged  Viscount  Stafford  was  perpe- 
trated almost  in  the  sight  of  the  foreign  wooer.    His  com- 

1  Additional  MSS.  British  Museum.  Hanoverian  Papers,  transcribed 
by  Secretary  Gargan  ;  given  by  George  IV. 


330 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


merits  upon  it,  in  bis  letter  to  the  Duchess  Sophia,  lead 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  sceptre  of  Great  Britain  was  not 
to  be  coveted.  His  own  observations  on  the  development 
of  the  Popish  plot,  together  with  his  confidential  com- 
munings with  his  uncle,  Prince  Rupert,  had  the  effect  of 
convincing  him  that  the  times  of  1640  were  recurring  in 
1682. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  has  the  credit,  in  history,  of  break- 
ing the  match  between  his  sister-in-law,  the  Lady  Anne  of 
York,  and  Sophia's  son.  Assuredly  his  desire  to  break  the 
match  between  the  Duke  of  Zelle's  daughter  and  the  heir 
of  Wolfenbuttel  must  have  been  intense.  His  own  views 
on  the  British  crown  would  have  been  impeded  by  Koman 
Catholic  influence  ruining  the  Protestant  branch  of  Han- 
over. William  of  Orange,  therefore,  brought  all  his  politi- 
cal engineering  to  bear  upon  the  mind  of  his  old  instructor 
in  the  art  of  war,  George  William,  Duke  of  Zelle,  for  the 
purpose  of  inducing  him  to  give  his  wealthy  daughter  to 
the  heir  of  Hanover,  and  thus  consolidate  the  Protestant 
interest.  The  question  was,  whether  the  highly-born 
Duchess  Sophia,  who  boasted  so  many  royal  and  imperial 
ancestors,  would  condescend  to  receive  as  a  daughter-in- 
law  the  child  of  a  morganatic  marriage  ? 

There  was  no  difficulty  with  the  Duke  of  Zelle.  It  is 
true  he  was  much  attached  to  Antony  Ulric,  the  Duke  of 
Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel,  both  as  his  old  friend  and  com- 
panion in  arms,  the  head  of  the  Guelphic  line,  and  withal  a 
prince  highly  distinguished  in  Europe  for  genius  and  learn- 
ing, and  every  grace  of  mind  and  person  ;  but  a  man's  line 
of  politics  usually  sways  him  beyond  all  influences  of  private 
affection  and  friendship.  We  have  shown  George  William, 
Duke  of  Zelle,  as  a  noted  Protestant  champion,  a  com- 
mander from  his  youth  upwards  among  the  knot  of  Tre- 
mouilles,  Rohans,  Solms,  and  Waldecks,  with  a  host  of 
French  Protestant  refugees,  led  by  the  Nassaus,  who  had 
held  Breda  and  its  sister  fortresses  against  the  whole  puis- 
sance of  Catholic  Europe.  As  for  his  beloved  Duchess,  she 
was  French  Calvinist  and  refugee.  How  were  such  life- 
long ties  to  be  broken  asunder,  to  follow  Antony  of  Wolf- 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


331 


enbiittel,  whose  new  religion  would  reverse  all  the  ancient 
predilections  ? 

Such  was  the  real  state  of  affairs  when  the  Duchess 
Sophia,  acceding  to  the  request  of  her  husband  that  she 
would  in  person  ask  the  hand  of  his  niece  for  their  son, 
ordered  her  travelling-carriage  late  in  the  evening  of  Sep- 
tember 14,  1682,  and,  ploughing  through  the  roads  of  deep 
sand  for  the  distance  of  about  twenty  miles,  in  the  night, 
crossed  the  frontier  of  the  brother  potentate,  and  presented 
herself  at  the  Briickhausen  palace  of  Zelle  betimes  in  the 
morning.  Sophia  won  her  way  through  all  the  officials 
to  the  very  bed-chamber  of  her  brother-in-law,  by  declar- 
ing, in  her  dehonnaire  manner,  that  she  had  come  incog- 
nita for  the  purpose  of  pleasantly  surprising  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  of  Zelle  In  bed,  in  order  to  wish  them  joy  of  their 
only  child's  birthday — the  young  Sophia  Dorothea  having 
completed  her  sixteenth  anniversary,  that  15th  of  Septem- 
ber. With  this  intimation  she  entered  her  brother-in-law's 
chamber.  Having  made  her  sprightly  congratulations,  she 
asked  for  his  wife.  The  Duke,  pointing  to  the  door  of  com- 
munication between  the  matrimonial  apartments  usual  In 
continental  arrangements,  said,  ''She  is  there/'  Then  the 
Duchess  Sophia  went  In,  and  greeted  her  astonished  sis- 
ter-in-law with  unwonted  familiarity  on  the  joyful  anni- 
versary. Whosoever  expected  the  wooing  expedition  of 
the  Duchess  of  Hanover,  it  Is  certain  her  French  sister- 
in-law  did  not ;  for  the  poor  lady  hastened  her  toilette,  to 
the  danger  of  infringing  many  princely  etiquettes,  German 
and  French,  when  she  found  that  the  Duchess,  with  the 
easy  amenity  of  near  relationship,  had  glided  back  Into  the 
Duke  ,of  Zelle's  apartment,  and  commenced  an  eager  con- 
versation with  him  in  Dutch.  Sometimes  Frenchwomen, 
with  all  their  tact  and  acuteness,  lose  the  dear  delights  of 
having  their  own  way,  owing  to  the  exclusive  admiration 
they  have  for  their  own  language,  and  their  distaste  for  all 
others,  especially  for  the  Teutonic  tongues.  Not  so  our 
brilliant  Sophia.  Mistress  as  she  was  of  the  French  lan- 
guage to  perfection,  she  did  not  disdain  homely  Dutch  when 
it  served  her  purpose,  although  perhaps  not  fond  of  the 


S32 


SOPHIA^  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


reminiscence  that  she  was  by  birth  a  Dutchwoman.  Never- 
theless, in  the  polyglot  commanded  by  her  powerful  mind 
and  memory,  Dutch  maintained  its  place.  George  William 
now  held  discourse  with  his  cousin  in  the  old  famiHar  tongue 
they  both  talked  at  Breda,  when  life  was  young  and  as  yet 
imcumbered  with  riches  and  sovereignties.  Duchess  Eleanore 
had  been  likewise  a  refugee  at  Breda,  but  having  scorned 
to  acquire  the  language  of  the  people  who  protected  her, 
she  was  placed  in  the  odd  dilemma  of  having  her  daughter 
disposed  of  before  her  face,  without  being  able  to  put  in  a 
negative  ;  for  the  fluent  reasons  of  Sophia  prevailed  entirely, 
and  the  Duke  of  Zelle  had  promised  his  daughter's  hand  to 
his  nephew  before  the  mother  of  the  young  lady  had  ascer- 
tained the  drift  of  the  lively  dialogue  in  Dutch. 

All  the  gossips  chronicling  this  event  agree — Polnitzi 
(the  near  relative  of  the  parties)  being  at  their  head — that 
the  Duchess  of  Zelle  was  adverse  to  the  marriage,  and  that 
she  had  prevailed  on  her  husband  to  announce  his  inten- 
tion of  betrothing  their  daughter  to  the  heir  of  the  Duke  of 
Wolfenbuttel  that  very  anniversary  of  her  sixteenth  birth- 
day. Perhaps  this  was  with  a  proviso  stipulating  unless 
her  hand  was  not  previously  demanded  by  the  son  of  his 
brother ;  for  it  is  certain  that  never  was  marriage  more 
speedily  proposed  or  agreed  to.  The  young  lady  was 
dutifully  quiescent,  according  to  her  autograph,  extant  in 
the  British  Museum  ;^  a  pretty  letter  in  French,  expressed 
with  simplicity  that  looks  genuine :  it  is  addressed  to  Sophia, 
saying  — 

I  have  so  much  respect  for  my  Lord  Duke,  your  husband,  and  for  my 
Lord  my  own  father,  that  I  shall  always  be  content  in  whatever  manner 
they  agree  to  act  in  my  behalf  ;  and  your  Highness  will  do  me  the  justice 
to  believe  so,  and  that  no  one  can  be  more  sensible  than  I  am  of  the  many 
i:)roofs  of  your  goodness.  I  will  carefully  endeavour,  all  my  life  long,  to 
deserve  the  same,  and  to  make  it  appear  to  your  Highness,  by  my  respect 
and  Immble  service,  that  you  could  not  choose  as  your  daughter  one  who 
better  than  myself  knows  how  to  requite  you.  In  which  duty  I  shall  feel 
great  pleasure,  and  in  showing  you,  by  my  submission,  how  much  I  am 
your  Highness's  very  humble  and  obedient  servant." 


^  Descended  by  a  morganatic  marriage  from  the  great  Prince  of  Orange, 
Maurice. 

2  Royal  MSS.,  vol.  lix.,  folio  230. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


O  09 

ooo 


Either  Sophia  Dorothea,  or  some  one  of  her  family  dic- 
tating, is  here  very  grateful  for  being  chosen  by  the 
Duchess  of  Hanover  as  her  daughter-in-law — a  clause 
rather  unusual  in  ceremonial  letters  of  the  kind.  It  is  in 
strong  accordance  with  the  customs  of  France,  where  ma- 
dame  la  mere  of  the  bridegroom  is  always  acknowledged  as 
the  most  important  person  in  the  whole  process  of  wooing 
and  wedding,  and  therefore  seems  to  have  emanated  from 
the  French  Duchess  of  Zelle,  represented  by  bold  guessers 
as  in  despair  on  the  occasion.  Yet  there  was  a  climbing 
parvenu  spirit  in  the  whole  career  of  this  lady,  leading  to 
the  supposition  that  the  circumstance  was  a  pleasant  though 
unexpected  realisation  of  all  the  ambitious  hopes  entertained 
by  the  Zelle  family. 

The  betrothal  and  wedlock  took  place  with  all  possible 
celerity.  Sophia  saw  her  eldest  son  married  to  the  young 
lady  of  Zelle,  21st  November  1682.  It  was  observed  that 
the  festivities  over  which  the  Duchess  Sophia  presided,  at 
the  reception  of  her  daughter-in-law,  at  Hanover,  were  far 
more  brilliant  and  expensive  than  those  at  Zelle  during 
the  nuptial  celebrations.  But  it  was  the  careful  economy 
of  the  bride's  mother  that  had  saved  the  enormous  dower 
which  made  her  daughter  an  acceptable  wife  to  the  heir  of 
Hanover.  Henceforward  the  name  of  her  daughter-in-law 
frequently  occurs  in  the  letters  Sophia  wrote  to  Leibnitz 
or  Ilten.  She  is  always  mentioned  therein  kindly  and  cor- 
dially, just  as  her  own  mother  might  have  named  her. 

After  this  successful  termination  of  her  diplomatic  scheme, 
connected  with  the  marriage  of  her  son,  Sophia  turned  her 
attention  to  realising  the  high  hopes  for  her  daughter  with 
which  she  had  been  flattered  by  her  kindred  in  France. 
The  utmost  polish  was  to  be  given  to  the  young  beauty  by 
a  prolonged  visit  to  Italy,  and  then  she  was  to  be  shown  in 
all  her  charms  and  graces  at  the  court  of  Louis  XIV.  From 
the  marriage  festivities  of  George  Louis  of  Brunswick  and 
his  luckless  partner,  Sophia  went,  with  her  young  Princess, 
on  a  long  tour  in  Italy,  which  occupied  the  year  1683. 
The  extreme  desire  of  the  Princess  Colonna  to  convert 
Sophia  and  her  daughter  to  the  Romish  religion,  is  the  only 


334 


SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


incident  that  lias  transpired  of  their  stay  at  Eome  and 
their  travels  in  Italy.  To  aid  in  this  work,  which  the 
Roman  Princess,  of  course,  thought  a  good  one,  she  intro- 
duced to  Sophia  one  of  the  Italian  literati,  Abbate  Mauro 
by  name,  likewise  called  by  Sophia,  Signer  Hortensio, 
who  was  appointed  librarian  and  instructor  to  the  mother 
and  daughter  in  the  delicacies  of  the  Italian  language. 
Letters  often  occur  between  Dr  Mauro  and  his  padrona ; 
and  now  and  then  the  learned  Italian  endeavoured  to  sow 
the  seeds  of  his  faith,  but  they  fell  fruitless  on  the  polished 
marble  of  the  illustrious  savantes  mind. 

All  the  European  wars,  aggressive  and  defensive,  came  to 
a  pause  in  1683,  when  the  awful  advance  of  an  enemy,  who 
gave  no  quarter,  and  who  treated  the  women  and  children 
of  those  who  resisted  invasion  with  systematic  atrocity, 
called  all  Christendom  to  the  defence  of  Vienna,  then  be- 
sieged by  the  Turks.  Ernest  Auguste  and  his  two  eldest 
sons  were  among  the  foremost  in  this  brave  work;  and 
although  their  names  were  lost  in  the  blaze  of  Sobieski's 
glory,  yet  all  Germany  knew  that  George  Louis,  equally 
with  his  gigantic  younger  brother,  inured  to  combat  with 
the  savage  Moslem  from  the  age  of  fifteen,  had  done  their 
devoir  as  gallantly  as  any  Guelph  who  defended  Chris- 
tianity in  the  early  ages.  Sophia,  in  her  letters  to  Leibnitz, 
had  previously  expressed  great  doubt  whether  her  tall 
handsome  Frederic  would  ever  be  good  for  anything  as  a 
soldier,  his  devotion  to  the  basset-table  and  other  vicious 
indulgences  having  given  her  great  uneasiness.  Now  she 
had  the  maternal  pleasure  of  finding  that  the  hardships  of 
this  terrific  campaign  had  improved  him  every  way.  He 
was  looked  up  to  as  a  martialist  of  renown,  and  he  received 
an  appointment  as  major-general  in  the  Imperial  service. 
Just  at  this  time,  her  court  was  visited  by  a  Scotch  poli- 
tician, who  drew  Sophia  and  her  husband  as  he  saw  them. 
"  Sophia  has  the  character  of  the  '  merry  debonair  Princess 
of  Germany/  a  lady  of  extraordinary  virtue  and  accom- 
plishments. She  is  mistress  of  Italian,'  French,  High  and 
Low  Dutch,  and  of  English,  which  languages  she  speaks  to 
perfcctien.    Her  husband  has  the  title  of  the  '  Gentleman 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOYER. 


335 


of  Germany/  a  graceful  and  comely  Prince  both  on  foot 
and  on  horseback.  They  have  a  numerous  offspring.  Two 
of  their  sons  signalised  themselves  at  Vienna ;  and  as  proof 
of  their  valour  they  brought  home  three  Turks  to  their 
parents'  court  as  prisoners/' i 

Under  the  auspices  of  her  family  laurels,  newly  won  in 
the  defence  of  Europe,  Sophia  hoped  the  debut  of  her  young 
daughter  in  France  would  make  the  important  conquest  of 
the  Dauphin's  heart;  for  every  grace  had  been  acquired, 
and  every  page  of  knowledge  had  been  conned.  One  only 
had  been  left  purposely  blank  in  her  mind,  in  hopes  that 
the  first  prince  in  Europe  might  not  find  aught  written 
therein  contrary  to  the  faith  he  professed.  Sophia  deter- 
mined to  try  her  daughter's  luck  at  Paris,  for  the  hopes 
Gourville  had  infused  into  her  heart  had  never  left  it.  The 
least  hint,  after  these  brilliant  actions  at  Vienna  of  Sophia's 
husband  and  sons,  procured  a  flattering  invitation  from  the 
Grande  Monarque  to  both  mother  and  daughter,  and  again 
they  took  their  way  to  Paris  ;  no  longer  incognita  this 
time,  but  royally  welcomed  to  Versailles,  where  apartments 
were  assigned  them  for  a  long  stay.  The  winter  of  1683, 
and  a  large  part  of  1684,  were  passed  by  them  either 
there  or  in  Paris.  All  success,  but  the  grand  success  of 
achieving  the  conquest  of  the  Dauphin's  heart,  was  attained. 
And  it  is  a  little  surprising  that  the  match  did  not  take 
place,  because  the  eldest  son  of  Louis  XIV.  afterwards  mar- 
ried a  German  princess  without  charms  of  person  or  mind, 
the  daughter  of  the  Elector  of  Bavaria. 2  Perhaps  the  real 
reason  was  that  previously  Duke  Ernest  Auguste  and  his 
martial  brother,  during  their  employment  by  the  Emperor, 
had  fought  against  France,  and  actually  beat  a  small  army 
of  the  great  Louis  at  Treves,  under  the  command  of  the 
Duke  de  Crequl.^ 

One  trifling  matter  of  etiquette  was  infringed  by  Sophia 
and  her  daughter.    The  French  monarch  should  have  been 

1  Ker's  Remarks  on  the  Government  of  Germany. 
^  History,  by  Frederic  the  Great,  of  the  House  of  Brandenburg. 
^  Just  before  the  negotiation  with  Gourville  took  place,  which  settled 
the  Peace  of  Nimeguen. 


236 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


addressed  as  Sire ; "  but  they  used  the  title  of  Majeste." 
Slight  as  the  mistake  was,  it  vexed  him,  and  he  had  it 
mentioned  and  rectified.  There  is  no  great  parade  in  the 
epithet  ''Sire;''  but  it  seems  peculiar  to  the  head  of  the 
French  nation,  and  survives  the  French  monarchy.  Xapo- 
leon  claimed  it,  and  the  successor  in  his  dynasty  is  addressed 
by  it. 

"  There  would  have  been  no  difficulty  on  Sophia's  part 
concerning  religion,"  observes  Gourville,  alluding  to  the 
hoped-for  marriage,  ''  if  her  husband  had  entered  into  it. 
But  nothing  could  shake  his  fidelity  to  the  Emperor.  Hav- 
ing heard  all  the  French  envoy  had  to  say  on  the  matter, 
he  replied,  ^  he  w^as  too  old  to  change  his  religion,  and 
however  advantageous  the  scheme  might  be  to  his  house, 
it  was  useless  to  discuss  it  farther/ Presents  of  great 
magnificence  were  offered  to  Gourville  by  Sophia,  with  the 
declaration  that  she  meant  to  dispose  of  several  beautiful 
diamonds,  and  wished  to  hear  which  among  them  he  thought 
the  finest.    These  she  directly  pressed  on  his  acceptance. 

After  a  twelvemonth's  participation  in  the  delights  of  the 
French  court,  the  mother  and  daughter  were  recalled  home 
to  fulfil  a  treaty  of  alliance  that  Duke  Ernest  Auguste  had 
been  negotiating  at  Berlin.  All  the  beauty  and  accom- 
plishments of  Sophia  Charlotte  drew  for  her  no  better  prize 
in  the  matrimonial  lottery  than  the  hand  of  the  deformed 
and  odd-tempered  heir  of  Brandenburg.  Her  mother  was 
extremely  anxious  for  her  marriage  ;  and  notwithstanding 
all  the  opposition  of  the  Electress  of  Brandenburg  (a 
Princess  of  Holstein-Glucksberg),  Grote,  the  Hanoverian 
minister,  managed  so  well  that  the  Electoral  Prince  of 
Brandenburg  arrived  at  Hanover,  September  1684,  on 
matrimony  intent,  leaving  at  Berlin  his  sire  ill  w^ith  the 
gout,  and  his  inimical  stepdame  malcontent.  ^  The  day 
before  her  nuptials,  the  Princess  Sophia  Charlotte  made 
public  profession  of  the  religion  of  her  betrothed.^  The 
bridegroom  was  a  widower,  aged  twenty-six,  crooked, 
diminutive,  and  cross  ;  hypochondriac  withal,  having  taken 

^  Life  of  Sophia  Charlotte,  by  Yarnhagen  von  Euse,  from  the  German. 
^  Calvinism. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


337 


it  into  his  head  that  liis  stepdame,  the  Electress,  had  one 
day  poisoned  him  in  a  cup  of  coffee,  in  order  that  lier  tall, 
handsome  sons,  j\Iargraves  of  Anspach-Brandenburg,  might 
inherit  his  dignities,  and  that  he  should  never  get  over  the 
effects  of  the  said  noxious  cup  of  coffee/  Such  affections  as 
this  oddity  possessed  were  buried  in  the  grave  of  his  first 
wife.  During  the  marriage  ceremony  with  Sophia  Charlotte, 
a  strange  accident  occurred.  The  bridegroom  wore  a  gold 
ring,  on  which  was  embossed  the  initials  of  his  deceased 
wife,  and  the  motto  a  jamais.  As  he  gave  his  hand  to  the 
Hanoverian  bride,  to  his  infinite  alarm  and  astonishment, 
this  ring  broke  and  fell  to  the  ground.^  Sophia  Charlotte 
was  in  her  seventeenth  year,  much  too  beautiful  and  good 
for  him,  as  their  grandson,  Frederic  the  Great,  expressly 
avers.  She  had  never  before  been  permitted  to  express 
any  preference  for  one  of  the  Protestant  formulas  of  faith, 
although  supposed  to  be  educated  as  a  Calvinist  like  her 
mother. 

The  pomp  and  glitter  of  the  bridal  at  last  passed  away, 
though  long  protracted,  for  the  Electoral  Prince  and  Princess 
did  not  make  their  entry  into  Berlin  until  November  14. 
Sophia,  to  her  surprise,  and,  as  her  confidential  correspond- 
ents say,  her  deep  mortification,  found  herself  keeping  her 
lonely  state  at  Hanover  or  Herenhausen  in  the  Christmas 
ensuing.  Duke  Ernest  Auguste  himself  held  winter-quarters 
at  Venice  while  his  young  heroes  battled  the  Turks.  Fre- 
deric, his  second  son,  commanded  in  the  Morea,  assisted 
by  the  same  Charles,  Count  Konigsmurck,  who  had  attained 
an  unenviable  notoriety  in  England  as  the  suborner  of  the 
assassins  of  Tom  Thynne  of  Longleat  Hall.  Sophia's  other 
sons  were  ready  to  start  from  her  court  for  the  field.  Her 
letters  at  this  period,  addressed  to  M.  Ilten,  one  of  the 
Hanoverian  state  ministers  in  Italy,  were  meant  to  give  her 
husband  an  idea  of  how  the  world  went  in  Germany.  Her 
eldest  son,  Duke  George,  was  still  with  her,  and  his  wife, 
Sophia  Dorothea,  but  ready  to  set  out  for  his  Hungarian 


^  Polnitz. 
VOL.  VIII. 


Varnliagen  von  Edsg. 

Y 


338 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOYER. 


campaign.  The  birth  of  their  eldest  child  (George  II.  of 
Great  Britain)  had  taken  place  at  Hanover  the  preceding 
year,  Oct.  30,  1683. 

Letters  from  the  Electress  Sophia  to  Mr  Ilten  in  Venice, 
during  Ernest  Augustus's  sojourn  there  in  the  years  1684-85, 
occur  as  follows  : — 

"  Hanover,  %th  February,  1685. 
Sir, — I  am  much  indebted  to  you  for  having  given  me  news  of  my  son 
at  Frankfort.  As  his  appetite  has  held  good  hitherto,  by  your  example  I 
hope  it  will  remain  so  till  he  reaches  Venice.  From  you  only  we  heard  of 
the  battle  between  the  Elector  Palatine  [Charles  Theodore,  her  nephew] 
and  the  Landgrave  of  Darmstadt.  I  trust  that  it  will  not  be  a  very 
bloody  one.  To-day  Prince  Maximilian  ^  left  here  in  excellent  spirits.  He 
joins  his  regiment  at  Minden,  where  he,  the  lieutenant-general,  ought  to 
harangue  it.  Madame  Klenk  gave  us  a  supper,  when  we  drank  to  the 
health  of  the  travellers,  and  I  lost  my  money  a  la  bete.  Prince  Christian  ^ 
has  had  the  small-pox.  He  suffered  much,  but  is  now  out  of  danger. 
My  daughter-in-law  [Sophia  Dorothea]  has  taken  Miss  Wieg  into  her 
service.  This  is  all  the  intelligence  I  can  send  you  from  hence,  and  that 
I  shall  always  remain  your  affectionate  friend,  Sophia." 

Her  daughter-in-law  Sophia  Dorothea,  wife  of  Duke 
George,  accompanied  her  husband  as  far  as  Zelle,  whither 
Sophia  went,  and  her  next  letter  to  Ilten  is  dated  from 
thence : — 

"  Celle,  the  Sth  March,  1685. 

"  Sir, — I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  constantly  informing  me  that  the 
Duke  [Ernest  Auguste,  her  husband]  keeps  in  good  health.  God  grant 
that  he  may  always  enjoy  it.  I  fear  he  will  suffer  on  learning  the  death 
of  his  sister  the  Queen,^  which  has  much  distressed  us.  Her  Majesty  has 
soon  followed  the  King  of  England.^  I  believe  the  doctors  can  only  say 
that  those  who  die  in  February  are  not  ill  in  March,  for  a  vast  number 
were  consulted.  Still  the  world  will  not  fail  of  population  while  you  and 
Madame  Ilten  continue  in  it.  She  has  just  been  confined  again  of  a  fine 
boy,  without  having  suffered  in  the  least.  This  babe  will  fill  the  place  of 
that  you  lost  in  Hungary.  My  eldest  son  wishes  to  leave  with  the  infantry 
on  March  16.  We  have  an  idea  of  following  him  to  Herzburgh.  I  do  not 
know  whether  it  will  be  realised. 

"  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  Duke  Ernest  Auguste  would  be  delighted  with 
our  dear  daughter's  [Sophia  Dorothea]  prospect  of  an  increase.  She  keeps 
very  well.    I  came  here  at  general  entreaty  to  pass  half  the  period  of  the 


^  Third  son  of  Sophia  and  Ernest  Auguste. 
^  Fourth  son  of  Sophia. 

^  Sophia  Amelia,  wife  of  King  Frederic  the  Third  of  Denmark. 
*  Charles  II. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


339 


Carnival.  The  young  people  wished  to  make  a  ^  mirthshaft/  but  the  mourn- 
ing has  spoiled  everything.  Mr  Klenk's  ball  has  caused  a  great  sen- 
sation in  all  the  papers.  I  am  delighted  that  you  and  Prince  Charles  have 
such  good  appetites.  We  are  charmed  here  to  receive  letters,  and  yours 
are  always  very  welcome  to  me.  Sophia." 

Sophia  again  renewed  her  correspondence  with  her  hus- 
band's minister,  Ilten,  in  the  new  year  of  1686.  From  her 
letters  we  may  learn  that  she  was  then  at  Hanover,  keeping 
rather  lonely  court ;  for  her  daughter-in-law,  Sophia  Doro- 
thea, was  at  Osnaburg,  and  her  own  faithless  absentee, 
Duke  Ernest  Auguste,  steeped  to  the  lips  in  the  intoxicating 
pleasures  of  Venice.  Sophia  had  no  better  amusement 
than  a  captive  child  her  son  George  had  spared  from 
the  sword,  and  sent  to  her  court  from  the  seat  of  war 
on  the  Hungarian  border.  I  have/'  she  says  to  Ilten,^ 
no  companion  but  a  little  Turk,  presented  to  me  by  my 
eldest  son.  I  had  him  baptised  on  Twelfth  Day.  I  hoped 
that  fete  would  pass  off  gaily,  but  by  ill  luck  Madame 
Thorenburgh,  who  had  lost  her  eldest  son,  was  Queen  of  the 
Bean,  and  a  Huguenot  exile,  who  had  lost  all  his  property, 
was  King ;  so  the  whole  affair  was  a  melancholy  one.'' 

The  continental  Twelfth  Cake  contains  two  beans,  and 
those  who  find  them  are  king  and  queen.  These  lots  had 
fallen  very  unluckily,  and  spoiled  the  pleasures  of  the  even- 
ing to  the  ever  gay  Duchess  Sophia.  "  Madame  Grote," 
she  continues  to  Ilten,  never  leaves  the  house.  She  has 
not  so  good  a  reason  for  it  as  your  Madame  Ilten,  who  will 
rejoice  you  in  Italy  with  a  little  Italian.  Say  all  that  is 
kind  to  her  from  me,  and  thank  her  for  her  remembrance. 
It  is  like  being  at  the  antipodes  here,  except  when  by 
chance  one  gets  one's  letters.  The  dispute  between  the 
Imperial  post  and  M.  de  Platen  increases  instead  of  di- 
minishes. The  mistress  of  the  latter  has  married  M.  de 
Bar.  And  this  is  all  of  news  I  have.''  She  adds  as  post- 
script :  "  What  has  become  of  Signor  Hortensio  ?  I  never 
have  any  letters  from  him.''  This  was  Abbe  Mauro,  her 
priest-librarian,  then  absent  at  Venice.  The  same  year  she 
bad  a  little  granddaughter  born,  the  child  of  her  son 

^  Letters  of  the  Electress  Sophia  to  Ilten. 


340 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


George  and  Sophia  Dorothea,  afterwards  Queen  of  Prussia, 
mother  of  Frederic  the  Great. 

Sophia  again  renewed  her  diplomatic  acquaintance  with 
Gourville/  She  was  with  her  spouse  in  the  summer,  taking 
the  waters  of  Wiesbaden.  The  Hanoverian  party  were 
situated  at  the  lower  spring  of  Wiesbaden,  from  whence  the 
water  was  drawn  every  night  to  be  mixed  with  Rhenish 
wine  for  the  Duchess,  who  presented  to  Gourville  a  golden 
pitcher  or  siphon,  curious  and  beautiful,  in  which  was 
contrived  an  apparatus  for  refreshing  Rhenish  wine  with 
ice,  invented  by  one  of  Sophia's  philosophers,  which  she 
could  arrange  herself  without  the  aid  of  any  one.  Madame 
de  Montespan,  on  Gourville's  return,  so  much  coveted  this 
invention,  that  she  gave  9000  livres  for  having  one  like  it 
made  for  her. 

Europe,  now  recovering  from  the  panic  caused  by  the 
inbreak  of  the  Turkish  hordes,  was  banding  itself  into  two 
great  parties,  for  the  enjoyment  of  another  Thirty  Years' 
War,  and  the  warlike  brothers,  the  Duke  of  Zelle  and  the 
Duke-bishop  Ernest  Auguste,  were  worth  wooing  as  to  the 
scale  into  which  they  might  throw  the  weight  of  their 
veteran  troops.  Sophia's  interest  had  hitherto  been  for 
France,  where  she  had  been  flattered  with  the  idea  that 
her  charming  daughter  might  one  day  wear  its  crown. 
She  had  found  the  hope  was  only  a  political  ilhision,  and 
with  natural  pique  preferred  the  cause  of  the  Emperor  of 
Germany  to  that  of  Louis  XIV.  The  sage  Leibnitz  had 
written  from  Berlin  to  Hanover,  congratulating  her  on  the 
birth  of  the  Electoral  Prince  Frederic  William,  her  daugh- 
ter's second  child.  The  Electress  of  Brandenburg  had 
lost  her  first  boy  previously.  She  was  travelling  with  all 
speed  to  her  mother  s  court,  where  she  hoped  to  get  over 
her  first  accouchement ;  but  she  was  taken  ill  only  a  few 
miles  from  Berlin,  and  put  to  bed  at  a  small  schoolmaster's 
house  by  the  roadside.    The  child  died.^ 

The  Carnival  time  was  always  distinguished  at  Sophia's 
court  with  the  same  species  of  merry  and  mad  glee  which 
had  astounded  the  Puritans  and  the  Dutch  at  the  exiled 

^  Gourville's  Memoirs.    He  says  this  was  in  1686.  ^  Polnitz. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


341 


court  of  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia.  In  February  29,  1G88, 
while  the  Brunswick  Princes  were,  as  Sophia  soon  after 
writes  to  Leibnitz,  waitinf^  with  folded  arms''  and  wonder- 
ing what  was  to  befall  in  Europe  for  the  encouragement  of 
their  trade  of  war,  she  was  presiding  over  a  notable  festi- 
val of  the  kind,  thus  described  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the 
Landgrave  Ernest  of  Hesse-Eheinfels :  it  serves  to  show 
the  manners  of  the  nation  she  reigned  over,  and  how 
curiously  the  sovereign  and  people  in  her  time  commingled 
after  the  old  German  custom.  "  I  came  before  the  gates  of 
Hanover  at  seven  in  the  evening,  just  time  enough  to  save 
me  from  being  shut  out  and  passing  the  night  at  an  inn 
in  the  suburbs.  On  hearing  the  masks  were  assembled  at 
the  Hotel  de  Ville  I  bought  a  mask,  and  went  at  eight 
o'clock  from  the  Castle,  before  which  'pitch  rings'  of  all 
colours  were  burning,  making  the  street  as  light  as  day. 
Before  the  Hotel  de  Ville  stood  a  guard  of  musketeers, 
who  examined  every  one  to  ascertain  if  he  wore  a  mask  ; 
no  one  was  admitted  without.  I  entered  the  saloon  of 
homage,  adorned  with  three  great  glasses,  three  lustres, 
and  many  candles  in  brass  sconces  round  the  walls.  On 
the  left  of  the  entrance,  in  two  galleries,  stood  the  musicians 
and  pipers,  who  played,  from  music-books,  many  pieces,  as 
ballets  and  minuets  for  dancing.  The  masks  danced  in 
three  places — namely,  in  one  circle  danced  Ernest  and 
Sophia  and  their  court ;  in  another,  the  burghers ;  and 
the  canaille  in  a  third,  who  in  their  diverse  masks  were 
frightful  to  behold.  The  Duke  of  Hanover  and  the  Duchess 
Sophia  were  already  there,  and  with  them  George  the  he- 
reditary Prince,  and  his  Princess  Dorothea.  The  father  of 
the  latter  and  her  mother,  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Zelle, 
were  there;  and  the  Brunswick  chief^  Antony  Ulric,  Duke  of 
Wolfenbuttel,  his  son,  and  his  son's  princess ;  likewise  the 
two  Hanover  Princes,  Max  and  Charles.  At  last  these  illus- 
trious guests  of  the  Brunswick  family,  twenty-one  in  number, 
all  entered  a  side-room,  assembled  round  a  large  table  and 
played  the  game  of  Zeid,  whereby  the  Duke  of  Hanover  won 
fourteen  thousand  dollars.''  While  this  desperate  gambling 
was  going  on  with  the  Bishop-duke  and  his  sons  and  kins- 


342 


SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


men  at  the  game  of  Zeid,!  it  is  well  to  find  it  noted  that 
Sophia  withdrew  her  daughter-in-law  and  ladies  to  another 
table,  where  they  likewise  amused  themselves  with  a  round 
game ;  but  as  neither  their  gains  or  losses  are  mentioned, 
it  is  evident  that  they  did  not  play  viciously,  though  the 
friend  of  Hesse-Eheinfels  says,  I  saw  huge  heaps  of  ducats 
and  new  silver  money  piled  on  both  the  tables/'  We  have 
already  seen  Sophia's  opinion  to  Leibnitz  of  such  doings, 
and  that  she  deemed  herself  hete  when  she  joined  them. 

"  During  the  game  all  the  ladies  and  princes  put  off  their 
masks  the  Duke  of  Hanover  wore  a  night  robe,  or  domino, 
with  gold  flowers.  The  young  Princesses  of  Zelle  and 
Wolfenbuttel  wore  cardinals  ;  the  ladies  red  dominoes,  em- 
broidered caps  and  casquettes,  with  high  feathers.  Some 
of  the  ladies  wore  men's  cravats,  others  neck  handkerchiefs, 
like  those  used  by  the  common  people.  There  was  a  great 
display  of  pearls  and  jewels.  A  few  steps  higher  was  a 
smaller  room,  where  Italians  sold  confitures,  lemonade,  and 
maccaroni  cakes.  Others  sold  wine,  spirits,  beer,  white 
bread  and  brown,  and  sold  all  for  ready  money.  The  mas- 
querade had  begun  at  four  in  the  afternoon  and  continued 
until  ten  at  night,  during  which  time  the  common  people 
amused  themselves  with  chattering,  joking,  and  tickling, 
when  not  dancing.  All  these  masks  of  lower  degree  left 
the  Hotel  de  Ville  when  the  ducal  trumpets  sounded  for 
supper.  Then  the  Duchess  Sophia  returned  to  the  castle 
with  her  ladies :  the  next  day  she  gave  a  public  dinner, 
and  at  four  in  the  afternoon  went  to  her  theatre,  where 
her  French  comedians  played.^' 

This  sketch  gives  a  picture  of  Sophia's  life  in  Hanover 
when  she  was  presiding  over  her  husband's  court  and 
people  at  festival  time.  The  gambling  perpetrated  by  the 
warrior-bishop,  her  spouse,  was  not  a  very  edifying  ex- 
ample to  his  people;  but  William,  Prince  of  Orange,  carried 
his  exploits  in  that  way  much  higher  the  year  he  took 
possession  of  the  British  empire.^ 

1  The  German  verb  zeideln  means  to  cut. 

*  Lamberti,  Bentinck's  secretary,  mentions  William's  stakes  of  4000  louis 
at  basset  as  if  they  were  acts  of  virtue. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


343 


The  invasion  of  England  by  the  Prince  of  Orange  now 
drew  nigh.  As  early  as  September  15.  1688,  Sophia  per- 
fectly understood  the  destination  of  the  armament  collect- 
ing on  the  coast  of  Holland.  Her  letter  to  Leibnitz  on  the 
subject,  guarded  as  it  was  under  the  mask  of  playfulness, 
is  an  historical  curiosity. 

The  Electress  to  Leibnitz. 

Herenhausen,  16th  September,  1688. 
As  your  prophecy^  has  been  more  intelligible  than  Apollo's,  I  ought  to 
prize  it  more,  and  I  think  one  may  consider  you  a  magi,  bearing  incense 
in  the  shape  of  the  beautiful  letters  you  wrote  to  my  daughter  and  to  me, 
on  the  birth  of  the  little  Prince  Electoral.  I  sent  them  to  her  by  this 
post,  and  do  not  doubt  that  they  will  be  most  acceptable. 

"  Since  my  return,  I  have  replied  to  the  Bishop  of  Neustadt.^  I  dare  say 
he  will  show  you  my  letter.  If  I  had  thought  he  would  let  the  Emperor 
see  my  letter  I  would  have  tried  to  make  it  a  more  interesting  one.  People 
say  that  the  Prince  of  Orange  will  cross  the  sea  shortly  with  a  formidable 
fleet  to  protect  the  reformed  religion  in  England.  France  threatens  Hol- 
land to  enter  her  territories  with  50,000  men,  if  she  allows  the  Prince 
of  Orange  to  cross  the  water  with  an  army.  The  Dukes  of  Zelle 
and  Wolfenbuttel  send  40,000  men  to  the  Dutch.  The  Elector  of 
Brandenburg  supplies  them  :  the  Landgrave  sends  people  too.  As  to 
Hanover,  it  awaits  like  Jupiter  in  heaven  with  crossed  arms  the  smoke  of 
some  sacrifice,  until  it  is  pleased  to  assume  another  attitude ;  for  it  will 
not  fail  to  levy  soldiers  to  prevent  a  surprise.  This  does  not  prevent  one 
from  making  a  great  building  of  your  library  to  get  up  operas  this  winter. 
It  is  Signor  Hortense  who  composed  the  play  of  Henry  the  Lion.  I 
believe  they  have  chosen  this  subject  in  order  that  posterity  may  not  forget 
the  states  which  once  belonged  to  this  line.  My  son  Prince  Charles  has  in- 
formed me  that  his  brother,  with  a  detachment  of  four  regiments,  is  sum- 
moned to  join  Prince  Louis  of  Baden.  It  is  a  proof  that  he  is  not  thought 
incapable  of  commanding.  I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  on  my 
return  here,  and  of  assuring  you  myself  of  the  esteem  in  which  I  hold  you. 

"  Sophia." 

When  the  English  Revolution  was  accomplished  and 
developed,  many  traits  concerning  it  made  Sophia  wince 
and  writhe  in  spirit.  Her  sister  Louisa  perpetually  wrote 
to  her  interesting  particulars  of  the  banished  royal  family, 
and  of  their  disinherited  son.  Sophia  wished  to  reconcile 
James  II.  and  his  eldest  daughter,  her  friend,  who  after  her 
coronation  in  1689,  remained  under  the  solemn  malediction 

^  Leibnitz'  Letters. 

*  Neustadt  had  urged  the  Electoral  family  to  turn  Catholics  one  and  all. 


344 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVEE. 


of  her  sire.    Sophia's  correspondence  with  her  niece  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans  was  more  frequent  than  ever ;  some 
of  theh^  letters  possess  high  historical  interest,  especially 
that  in  wliich  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  recites  to  her  aunt 
the  success  of  a  letter  in  extenuation  of  the  conduct  of 
Mary  IL    The  letter  was  to  be  placed  by  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans  in  the  hands  of  James  II. ,  then  an  exile  at  the 
court  of  Louis  XIV.    Whether  this  mediation  was  a  bit 
of  gratuitous  peacemaking  on  tlie  part  of  our  Sophia,  who 
might  peradventure  as  a  parent  shudder  at  the  example 
set  her  children,  is  not  revealed.        I  showed  the  King 
of  England/'  writes  her  niece  of  Orleans,  "  that  part  of 
your  letter  in  which  you  mention  his  daughter.    He  said 
— '  No  one  can  write  better  than  she  does ;  but  if  she 
wished  to  prove  that  she  had  no  share  in  my  misfortunes, 
she  ought  not  to  have  taken  the  crown.' ''1    The  words  are 
ambiguous.    James  seems  to  have  lost  the  idea  of  Sophia, 
and  concludes  as  if  answering  a  message  from  Mary  her- 
self.   The  unhappy  father  was  violently  agitated,  for  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans  continues  to  Sophia :  "  Your  letter 
touched  him,  for  he  turned  fire-red.     It  may  be  believed 
that  the  English  prefer  the  Prince  of  Orange  for  their  King. 
I  wish  only  that  the  Prince,  having  no  issue,  would  adopt 
the  Prince  of  Wales  for  his  successor.^'    What  then  would 
have  been  the  use  of  the  foul  Intrigues  and  false  tales 
impugning  the   hapless   child's   identity,  patronised  by 
William,  his  wife,  and  the  Princess  Anne  ?    Although  it 
was  Sophia's  interest  equally  to  adopt  these  inventions,  she 
never  heard  them  without  manifesting  open  scorn,  and  we 
have  under  her  handwriting  how  impatiently  she  loathed 
them. 2 

The  zeal  of  Lord  Halifax  for  the  Revolution  impelled  him 
to  write  to  Sophia,  urging  her  to  testify  some  sympathy  with 
its  measures.  Her  answer  has  been  preserved  ;  3  it  is  date- 
less, but  must  have  been  written  some  time  in  1689.  She 
seems  anxious  that  her  second  son,  Frederic,  should  win  the 

^  Vie  de  Sophie,  Feder.    From  the  Stutgard  Collection  of  Elizabeth 
Charlotte's  Letters. 
2  Ibid.,  and  a  Letter  to  Leibnitz,,  hereafter  given.        ^  Stepney  Papers. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


345 


good  graces  of  the  new  king,  William  III.  As  for  age  pre- 
venting her  from  taking  any  place  in  the  succession,  it  was 
a  mere  excuse.    Sophia  was  not  in  her  sixtieth  year. 

"  My  Lord, — As  I  ever  had  a  most  particular  esteem  for  your  merit,  and 
have  fancied  myself  acquainted  with  you  by  your  writings,  you  may  easily 
judge  by  that  how  agreeable  the  marks  you  have  given  me  of  your  friend- 
ship must  have  been.  I  assure  you  I  esteem  them  in  a  very  particular  man- 
ner, and  am  very  grateful  for  the  warmth  you  have  been  pleased  to  testify 
for  my  interests,  which  is  as  great  a  personal  satisfaction  to  me  as  if  your 
good  intentions  had  been  more  successful.  For  I  am  no  longer  of  an  age 
to  think  of  any  other  kingdom  than  that  of  heaven  ;  and  as  for  my  sons, 
they  ought  always  to  be  devoted  to  the  Empire  and  Emperor.  Mr  Schutz  has 
inform.ed  me  that  you  were  of  opinion  that  his  Majesty  would  be  pleased  if 
I  sent  one  of  them  into  England  ;  and  as  my  second  son  [Frederic]  had 
already  acquainted  me  that  he  should  be  glad  to  go,  after  the  campaign,  to 
congratulate  the  King  [William  III.]  upon  his  accession  to  the  crown,  and 
that  he  would  ask  the  Emperor's  leave  for  it,  being  a  major-general  in  his 
service,  I  dare  beg  you  to  assist  him  with  your  advice  how  to  make  his 
court  well  when  he  takes  that  journey.  If  he  would  have  changed  his 
religion,  he  might  have  succeeded  well  in  his  affairs  at  the  Imperial  court  ; 
but  he  has  too  much  of  his  uncle,  Prince  Rupert,  not  to  be  firm  in  his 
religion.  It  is  true  it  bears  the  name  of  Luther,  but  our  divines  at 
Hanover  say  it  is  conformable  to  that  of  the  Church  of  England,  and 
would  have  given  me  the  holy  sacrament  in  the  belief  I  am  in.  But  I 
would  not  give  any  scandal  to  those  of  my  religion,  which  I  believe  you 
will  approve.  However,  I  ought  to  congratulate  you  upon  its  having 
pleased  God  to  give  you  a  King  and  a  Queen  of  infinite  merit.  I  pray  Him 
to  preserve  them  to  you,  and  to  give  me  the  satisfaction  of  testifying  to 
you,  and  every  one  that  is  dear  to  you,  by  agreeable  services,  how  much  I 
am  most  affectionate  to  serve  you,  Sophia  Palatine." 

In  the  same  year,  Ernest  Auguste  had  taken  a  fancy  to 
have  himself,  his  ancestry  and  descendants,  portrayed  in 
tapestry,  probably  in  imitation  of  Louis  XIV.'s  patron- 
age of  the  celebrated  Gobelins.  Somehow  the  matter  did 
not  work  well,  and  Sophia  had  recourse  to  the  versatile 
talents  of  Leibnitz,  who  was  either  to  draw  patterns  himself, 
or  inspire  the  slow  German  artist,  making  the  designs,  with 
requisite  skill  and  spirit.  We  think  Leibnitz  found  the  first 
requisition  the  easiest.  Why  not?  St  Dunstan,  prime- 
minister  to  King  Edgar,  our  famous  Bretwalda,  drew  pat- 
terns for  the  gowns  of  Saxon  princesses,  besides  exerting 
his  skill  In  goldsmlthery  and  blacksmlthery.  It  is  a  curious 
bit  in  Sophia's  life  to  find  her  setting  the  German  Newton 


346 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


thus  to  work.  The  Diike^  wishes  to  Immortalise  himself 
by  tapestry,  and  as  I  have  ordered  a  picture  In  It,  like  that 
you  have  seen  in  my  antechamber,  he  welshes  one  of  the 
same  kind  of  his  late  father,  mother,  and  their  children, 
and  his  grandfather  and  his  children.  It  only  wants  a  good 
artist  to  carry  out  the  designs  according  to  their  times  [cos- 
tume of  their  period].  Our  artists  are  by  no  means  fertile 
in  invention,  and  It  seems  to  me  you  will  be  able  to  supply 
it  well  At  least  do  not  make  them  knitting  and  drinking 
'  brahan,'  ^  as  they  were  wont  to  do  in  those  days.  But 
draw  the  late  Duke  George  at  the  battle  of  Hamelln,  and 
his  wife  and  children  according  to  their  ages  then.  My 
eldest  son  and  his  wife  [Sophia  Dorothea],  and  their  son 
and  daughter,  will  make  one  group  in  the  piece,  I  trust 
you  will  spirit  up  our  painter  somewhat,  for  he  is  much 
cast  down  since  the  death  of  his  wife."  Of  course,  if  we 
were  writing  romance,  we  could  Inform  our  readers  how 
the  great  philosopher  proceeded  with  this  reasonable  requi- 
sition ;  and  we  own  it  irks  us  that  such  an  amusing  begin- 
ning must  be  left  a  story  without  an  end.  These  peeps 
into  the  life  interior  of  historical  characters  may  be  strange 
and  amusing,  yet  are  no  romances  of  our  invention.  Those 
who  have  that  idea  had  better  turn  to  our  authorities,  and 
test  the  truth — a  work  of  infinitely  less  labour  than  the 
research  of  finding  them. 

Two  of  Sophia's  sons  actually  fell  in  battle  against  the 
Turks  in  the  same  fatal  year  1690.  Frederic  Auguste,  her 
second,  was  killed  In  a  skirmish  with  a  Tartar  band  at 
Pristlna; — this  was  on  the  New-year's  Day  of  1690.^  His 
death  was  the  first  that  had  occurred  In  her  family.  She 
had  in  vain  accepted  for  him  the  invitation  of  William 
III.  When  he  rested  from  his  military  toils,  his  rest  w^as 
to  be  long  and  deep,  unvexed  by  the  turmoils  of  English 
politics.  The  death  of  her  second  son  had  been  sustained 
by  Sophia  with  her  usual  philosophy,  aided,  perhaps,  by 
her  remembrance  of  the  costs  of  his  basset-playing  and 

^  Sophia  to  Leibnitz — Ilten's  Collection. 

2  So  written.  Ibid. 

^  Leibnitz,  Funebria^  &c. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


347 


Other  extravagances.  But  when  the  last  day  of  the  year 
of  1690  took  away  her  best-beloved  son,  Charles  Philip, 
shot  in  forcing  the  pass  of  St  Georgen  in  Transylvania, 
her  firmness  and  healtli  sunk  together.  Her  brave  boy 
was  but  nineteen,  and  chevalier  sans  reproche.  The  ensu- 
ing April  she  spent  at  Carlsbad.  Here  Leibnitz  attended 
to  cheer  her  with  his  conversation,  and  report  her  state 
of  healtli  to  the  Electress  of  Brandenburg,  who  wrote 
to  Leibnitz^  on  the  announcement  of  her  mother's  conval- 
esence, — I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  having  informed 
me  of  the  entire  recovery  of  my  mother,  for  although  she 
wrote  to  me  continually  with  her  own  hand,  still  I  could 
not  suppress  my  apprehensions/' 

The  whole  Court  of  Hanover  went,  in  the  summer  of  1691, 
to  the  baths  of  Loccum,2  where,  while  drinking  the  waters, 
they  camped  out  in  tents — a  custom  which,  odd  as  it  may 
appear,  was  in  the  seventeenth  century  part  of  the  medical 
etiquette  of  taking  mineral  waters.  Sophia's  uncle,  Charles 
the  First,  with  his  queen  and  court,  did  the  same  at  Well- 
ingborough. Leibnitz  wrote  to  Sophia  all  sorts  of  gossip 
from  Berlin — domestic,  literary,  political,  and  religious. 
He  says,^  The  Landgrave  Ernest  of  Hesse  sent  me  a  good 
Capucin  from  the  Low  Countries,  who  had  been  with  him. 
He  is  thoroughly  persuaded  that  King  William  [HI]  is 
Catholic  in  his  soul ;  that  he  heard  mass  in  secret,  but  that 
he  dares  not  make  it  evident  for  fear  of  the  English.  All 
that  the  Landgrave  has  said  to  undeceive  him  on  this  mat- 
ter goes  for  nothing.  Far  from  believing  himself  in  error, 
he  derides  the  simplicity  of  those  who  do  not  understand  the 
finesse  of  King  William.  He  is  assured  that  the  most  en- 
lightened persons  in  the  Low  Countries  (folk  like  himself) 
are  persuaded  of  it.  Meantime  the  report,  absurd  as  it  may 
be,  may  not  be  useless  in  the  aff'airs  between  William  and 
the  Spaniards.'^  Leibnitz  thus  insinuates  that  the  Protestant 
champion  was  playing  with  his  Spanish  employers.    "  It  is 

^  Varnhagen  von  Ense. 

2  Likewise  called  the  Baths  of  Retsburg  and  Kloister,  Loccum  being 
near  the  latter  town. 
2  Letter  of  Leibnitz  to  Sophia,  June  30,  1691 — Ilten's  Collection. 


348 


SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


a  pity/'  he  continues,  that  a  politician  like  the  Capucin  is 
not  at  Loccum  ;  he  might  aid  the  good  effect  of  the  waters. 
I  pray  God  they  may  be  salutary  to  your  Serene  Highness, 
Monseigneur  the  Duke,  the  Prince  George,  Madame  the 
Princess  [Sophia  Dorothea],  and  all  the  serene  drinkers/' 

Thus  Leibnitz  shows  that  Sophia  was  accompanied  by 
some  '-^huveurs  serene''''  of  her  family.  Thes^  were  her 
son  George  and  his  consort  Sophia  Dorothea,  associates 
likely  to  excite  historical  curiosity.  Nor  is  her  answer  re- 
garding the  game  William  III.  was  playing  with  his 
Spanish  employers  less  likely  to  amuse  the  reader,  although 
she  swerves  from  the  supposed  facts  with  diplomatic  tact. 

SorHiA  TO  Leibnitz.* 

At  the  Baths,  13^^  July  1691. 
"  Your  letter,  sir,  has  given  me  more  pleasure  to  read  than  to  answer ; 
because  it  is  healthier  to  exercise  the  legs  than  the  head  here,  and  the 
latter  is  necessary  in  order  well  to  describe  our  opinion  upon  the  Euch- 
arist. I  expect  a  miracle  to  happen  to  me  as  it  did  to  Pelisson's  mother,  to 
confirm  me  in  the  views  which  Mr  Pelisson^  has  placed  before  you,  and  to 
fully  understand  them.  For  without  divine  inspiration  I  do  not  see  how 
we  can  believe  a  thing  when  one  sees  it  is  quite  the  contrary.  What  we 
are  commanded  to  do,  is  to  believe  that  which  we  do  not  see.  However, 
pray  assure  Mr  Pelisson  how  much  pleasure  it  gave  me  to  learn  from  you 
his  good  opinion  of  me.  But  I  fancy  it  is  like  that  of  miracles  and  other 
objects^  that  are  more  admired  at  a  distance  than  near,  where  the  truth  is 
more  easily  discovered.  Such  is  not  the  case  as  regards  Mr  Pelisson,  for 
his  writings  show  the  beauty  of  his  soul.  From  the  history  that  you  write 
to  me,  I  see  there  are  many  mad  people  in  the  world.  There  was  one  lately 
who  killed  a  man  engaged  in  his  devotions  at  a  church  in  Paris,  after  asking 
a  priest,  who  was  near  the  holy  water,  *  which  was  the  Prince  of  Orange  f — 
who,  for  a  joke,  pointed  out  that  man,  whom  the  madman  killed  on  the 
spot,  before  any  one  could  interfere.  Since  then  he  has  been  placed  in 
irons,  which  the  good  Capuchin  father  of  the  Low  Country  says  he  did  not 
deserve,  for  it  seems  he  is  more  simple  than  furious.  The  waters  will  not 
allow  of  my  writing  more.  Sophia." 

No  class  suffered  more  in  the  small  warlike  states  of  Han- 
over and  Osnaburg  than  the  clergy,  strange  as  it  might 
seem  with  a  bishop  reigning.  The  sustenance  of  the  clergy, 
even  of  the  reformed  persuasions,  was  cut  down  to  the  most 
miserable  stipend.  So  far  from  the  Church  being  able,  from 

^  Tlten's  Collection. 

2  Leibnitz  discusses  Pelisson's  works  in  the  commencement  of  his  letter. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


349 


its  once  munificent  endowments,  to  maintain  the  miserable 
poor,  its  ministers  might  indeed  be  reckoned  among  such. 
On  one  of  these  occasions  Sophia  expressed  her  opinion  to 
her  confidant,  when  Heinson,  a  distinguished  Protestant, 
who  called  himself  "  Superintendent-general  of  the  Protest- 
ant Church  in  North  Germany,''  had  ventured  remonstrance; 
and  this  was  the  message  sent  by  the  wife  of  the  Protestant 
bishop,  Ernest  Auguste,  by  her  philosopher,  Leibnitz,  who 
was  himself,  if  not  a  Protestant  minister,  the  son  of  one  : 
^'  Please  to  write  to  him  on  my  part,  that  in  our  church  the 
Lutheran  princes  are  the  popes  who  must  be  implicitly 
obeyed  — a  burst  of  arrogance  which  is  echoed  in  many  a 
refrain  through  the  letters  of  her  pupil  and  niece,  Elizabeth 
Charlotte.  But  Sophia  had  the  wisdom  to  recommend  her 
factotum  Leibnitz  to  communicate  this  precious  sentiment  to 
the  intrepid  Heinson  in  the  most  courteous  manner  possible. 
There  is  too  much  apparent  self-interest  in  the  tendency 
of  a  Princess,  the  wife  of  a  rich  bishop,  whose  sole  pastoral 
care  was  to  shear  his  flock  to  the  quick,  for  her  biographer 
to  overwhelm  this  trait  in  her  correspondence  with  praises, 
though  such  ideas  were  hailed  as  actual  virtues  by  most  of 
her  contemporaries  at  that  era,  and  will  find  admirers  in 
our  own. 

1  Feder,  p.  56. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOYER 


CHAPTEE  III. 

SUMMARY 

Sophia's  retirement  from  her  own  court,  and  its  causes  —Letter  to  Leibnitz 
— Her  life  at  Herenhausen — Incident  there — Sophia  visits  WiUiam  III. 
for  her  family  advancement — Her  husband  declared  Elector  of  Hanover 
by  the  Emperor — Sophia  is  henceforth  Electress— She  undertakes  the 
education  of  her  grandson  Frederic  William — Glad  to  restore  him  to 
his  parents — Her  granddaughter  born — Her  personal  kindness  to  her 
daughter-in-law  in  sickness — Her  advice  neglected  by  that  Princess — 
Misfortunes  of  her  daughter-in-law — Sophia  mentions  her  to  the  Duchess 
of  Orleans — Ernest  Auguste,  the  Elector,  ill  and  desirous  of  his  wife's 
society — Sophia  amuses  him  with  the  game  of  the  goose — Sophia  receives 
the  visit  of  Czar  Peter — Seats  him  between  herself  and  daughter — Their 
conversation — He  dances  Russian  dances  with  her  and  her  daughter — 
Letter  of  Sophia  to  Leibnitz  on  the  Czar — His  presents  to  her  of  sables 
and  damask — Sophia's  anecdotes  of  Peter  and  his  Russians — Her  kind- 
ness to  her  dying  husband — Letters  from  her  daughter  concerning  his 
illness — Death  of  the  Elector  Ernest  Auguste — Burial — Letter  of  the 
Electress  Sophia,  as  widow,  to  Hten — Curious  letters  by  her  on  Madame 
de  Maintenon — Sophia's  canvass  for  the  kingship  of  her  son-in-law — 
Sets  out  with  her  daughter  for  the  Low  Countries — Visits  Brussels — 
The  Elector  of  Bavaria's  courtesy — Sends  the  Sophias  by  sea  to  Rotter- 
dam—Great storm— Courage  of  Sophia — Visit  to  Bay le— Successfully 
canvasses  William  III.  at  Loo — Letter  of  Leibnitz  to  Sophia — Her 
daughter  crowned  Queen  of  Prussia — Gay  visits  and  masquerade  of  the 
latter — Sophia's  grief  for  the  death  of  Madame  Harling — Has  her  own 
portrait  engraved  by  Pialz— Her  friends'  dislike  to  portraits  in  age. 

The  sojourn  of  Ernest  Auguste  at  his  military  court  at 
Venice  effected  the  destruction  of  his  wife/s  conjugal  happi- 
ness :  his  life  and  manners  became  utterly  depraved  and 
sensual.  He  had  for  years  surrendered  his  heart  and 
honour  to  a  mistress  who  bears  the  most  diabolical  character 
of  any  among  such  of  that  vile  class  whose  deeds  stain  the 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


351 


pages  of  Iiistoiy.  Sophia  scorned  to  dispute  possession  of 
her  husband  with  Elizabeth  Meissenburg,  wife  of  Count  de 
Platen,  and  treated  her  tacit  divorce  as  a  matter  usual 
among  personages  of  higli  rank.  Her  indifference  was  ac- 
companied with  such  politeness  and  easiness  of  manner,  that 
she  retained  some  influence  over  her  faithless  lord — more 
than  she  cared  to  use.  She  was  always  named  by  him  as 
his  Sophie,''  the  queen-mother  of  his  children.  Likewise 
she  might  have  been  queen-sultana  of  his  establishment ; 
but  such  office  Sophia  disdained.  Hitherto  she  had  concealed 
her  contempt  in  her  fears  lest  she  might  be  deprived  of 
the  society  of  her  daughter.  When  that  princess  was  safely 
married,  and  mother  of  theheirtotheBrandenburgElectorate, 
Sophia  gradually  withdrew  from  her  depraved  husband's 
court,  leaving  him  with  Madame  de  Platen,  whose  unworthy 
husband,  Count  de  Platen,  acted  at  once  as  prime-minister 
of  his  pleasures  and  dominions.  Sophia  then  retired  to 
Herenhausen,  an  old  country  palace  of  the  Dukes  of  Lunen- 
burg, two  or  three  miles  from  Hanover,  and  belonging  to 
the  demesne  of  her  dower.  Here  she  assumed  to  be  entirely 
devoted  to  philosophical  investigation  and  literature,  but 
actually  amused  herself  with  creating  a  paradise  around 
her — cultivating  her  gardens,  pleasaunces,  and  palace-farm, 
according  to  the  taste  with  which  her  grandfather,  James 
I,  had  imbued  her  mother,  Elizabeth  Stuart.  She  set  a 
good  example  of  economy,  having  ample  nourishment  and 
many  luxuries  for  her  household,  the  produce  of  her  own 
well-cultivated  land  ;  and  by  living  within  her  Income,  she 
showed  her  husband's  people  from  what  quarter  arose  the 
extravagance  they  were  goaded  to  support.  Sophia  still 
possessed  many  charms  of  person  ;  and  when  the  malignant 
spirits  that  presided  over  her  husband's  evil-minded  estab- 
lishment are  remembered,  It  is  surprising  that  some  shafts  of 
scandal  or  other  were  not  aimed  at  her,  such  as  worked  the 
tragedies  connected  with  her  daughter-in-law  not  long  after- 
wards— all  proceeding  from  the  same  persons.  Perhaps  the 
vicious  Platens  were  afraid  of  Sophia's  strength  of  character 
and  cool  judgment,  for  certain  it  Is  she  passed  through  life 
without  the  slightest  scandal  attaching  itself  to  her  name. 


35^ 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


The  manner  in  which  she  checked  the  presumption  of  M. 
Gourville  is  an  instance  of  her  admirable  presence  of  mind 
in  such  cases.  She  assigned  him  his  fitting  place  with  excel- 
lent promptitude,  putting  herself  personally  under  the  pro- 
tection of  her  own  young  children.  So,  at  the  trying  time  of 
her  husband's  alienation,  which  had  occurred,  in  truth,  some 
years  previously,  her  own  beloved  young  daughter,  her 
companion  and  friend,  gave  and  took  protection  from  her 
wise  and  far-seeing  parent.  It  was  not  till  after  the  young 
princess  was  transferred  to  a  neighbouring  sovereignty,  and 
presided  over  a  court  of  her  own,  that  Sophia  withdrew  her- 
self from  the  daily  routine  of  her  own  court  at  Hanover. 

Circumstances  were  favourable  to  Sophia.  One  child's 
frail  life  ^  alone  stood  between  her  recognition  as  heiress  to 
the  throne  of  Great  Britain  by  every  Protestant  in  the 
island.  Sophia  was  a  great  political  personage  in  Europe  ; 
her  husband  therefore  contented  himself  with  neglect ;  out- 
rage would  not  have  been  expedient.  It  i^  not  every  for- 
saken wife  who  is  permitted  to  possess  her  soul  in  peace 
as  the  inhabitant  of  a  paradise  of  her  own  creation.  From 
this  retirement  she  never  scrupled  to  emerge  if  any  illustrious 
stranger  visited  her  husband's  court,  or  if  the  advancement 
of  her  family  required  her  assistance. 

There  is  a  shade  of  melancholy  perceptible  in  the  letter 
she  wrote  Leibnitz,  soon  after  she  had  ostensibly  retired  from 
her  court. 

The  Duchess  Sophia  to  Leibnitz.^ 

''Hanover,  ]4th  May  1691. 
''  If  it  had  pleased  God  at  once  to  endow  mankind  with  all  perfections, 
and  spared  them  the  failings  of  humanity,  it  seems  to  me  that  His  work 
would  have  been  more  perfect,  and  one  would  have  less  trouble  in  believ- 
ing that  He  had  created  man  after  His  own  image.  But  it  appears  that  all 
passes  away,  and  that  He  alone  exists  for  ever.3  For  the  changes  that  go  on 
here,  as  they  neither  concern  you  nor  me,  I  only  know  what  people  say  of 
them  ;  and  amuse  myself  by  listening  to  the  nightingales  in  my  garden  of 
Herenhausen,  to  divert  my  mind  from  thoughts  which  might  distress  me." 

One  day  at  Herenhausen,  when  Sophia  was  walking 
with  Leibnitz  and  several  other  learned  friends  who  shared 

^  The  Duke  of  Gloucester,  then  a  sickly  infant.  ^  Ilten. 

^  From  this  expression  it  seems  that  Sophia  was  so  unfortunate  as  not 
to  believe  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 


SOPIIIAj  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


353 


In  her  tastes  and  pursuits,  ladies  as  well  as  the  more  learned 
sex,  their  conversation  turned  upon  the  theme  of  the  vast 
variety  in  the  operations  of  nature  notwithstanding  the 
general  uniformity  of  plan.  Sophia  affirmed  that  not  one 
leaf  in  all  her  groves  and  thickets  of  shrubs  and  trees  at 
Herenhausen  could  be  found  exactly  similar  to  another, 
upon  which  the  whole  learned  company  betook  them- 
selves with  baskets  to  gather  leaves  for  comparing  with 
each  other.  The  result  is  not  given  by  our  author,  but 
doubtless  it  was  in  coincidence  with  the  opinion  of  the  illus- 
trious savante.  Any  one  may  try  the  experiment,  and  see 
whether  her  opinion  and  facts  agree. 

In  the  great  historical  work  of  Leibnitz,  Sophia  took  the 
warmest  interest.  I  hope/'  she  says,^  "  the  Duke  will 
furnish  you  with  the  means  of  accomplishing  your  history 
at  your  leisure,  and  that  the  brave  descendants  of  Herminius, 
as  my  brother  the  Elector-Palatine  [Charles  Louis]  used  to 
call  the  Brunswickers,  will  help  in  maintaining  the  liberty 
of  Germany  under  our  devout  Emperor,  who  meanwhile 
may  make  his  prayers  in  expectation  of  the  success  of  our 
arms." 

A  passionate  desire  for  advancement  in  the  degrees  of 
rank  had  seized  the  minds  of  most  of  the  German  poten- 
tates since  the  siege  of  Vienna.  Sovereign  dukes  wished  to 
be  electors,  and  electors  craved  to  be  kings — which  they 
were  in  fact,  if  not  in  name.  Ernest  Auguste  wanted  to  be 
recognised  by  his  Imperial  suzerain  as  Elector,  and  his  son- 
in-law  Frederic,  who  was  already  Elector  of  Brandenburg, 
sighed  to  be  a  king,  although  the  name  of  his  kingdom 
was  not  yet  invented.^  William  III.,  the  generalissimo  of 
Spain  and  Austria,  was  deemed  all-potent  on  these  impor- 
tant points ;  and  accordingly  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg, 
escorted  by  the  Elector  of  Bavaria,  who  appears  to  have 

1  Sophia  to  Leibnitz. 

2  Frederic  the  Great — History  of  the  House  of  Brandenburg.  The  first 
idea  of  Frederic  I.  of  Prussia  was  to  be  declared  King  of  the  Vandals  ;  but 
his  wife,  her  mother,  and  Leibnitz,  persuaded  him  from  that  amusing  freak, 
and  adopted  the  well-sounding  name  of  Prussia. 

VOL.  VIII.  Z 


354 


SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


been  viceroy  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  came  to  canvass 
William  at  the  Hague  on  these  matters  in  the  year  1691. 
But  they  were  not  civilly  treated. 

William  III.  kept  Bavaria  waiting  three-quarters  of  an 
hour  among  his  courtiers.  The  Elector  of  Brandenburg 
thought  he  would  not  act  in  like  manner  towards  him  ;  but 
he  kept  him  half  an  hour  the  next  day  in  the  antechamber, 
after  promising  him  audience.  Then,  when  they  dined  with 
him,  William  first  seated  himself  very  ostentatiously  in  a 
vast  arm-chair,  while  the  two  Electors,  to  their  great  sur- 
prise, had  but  joint-stools,  though  the  Emperor  at  his  table 
always  gave  them  fauteuils ;  neither  had  they  silver-gilt 
plate,  but  were  only  accommodated  with  a  silver  spoon, 
knife,  and  fork.  William  pretended  that  such  was  the 
English  etiquette  towards  electors,  not  explaining  that  the 
English  were  perfectly  innocent  of  all  ordinances  concerning 
any  electors  but  those  who  voted  to  return  members  for 
their  House  of  Commons.  Our  Hanoverian  manuscript^ 
evidently  suspects  that  his  own  pride  and  malice  were  lurk- 
ing beneath  all  these  joint-stools,  knives,  forks,  and  silver 
spoons.  After  these  discouraging  circumstances,  Ernest  Au- 
guste  despaired  of  success  in  his  ambitious  wishes,  unless  "his 
Sophie"  could  be  enticed  from  the  retirement  into  which 
she  had  settled  herself  to  try  her  diplomatic  success  with 
William  III.  for  his  advancement.  With  this  mission  Sophia 
travelled  to  the  Hague  ;  and  William,  although  some  con- 
temporary letters  say  he  was  enraged  at  her  indifference  to 
the  English  succession,^  yielded  quickly  to  the  wishes  of 
one  who  had  often  led  him  by  the  hand,  and  carried  him  in 
her  arms,  during  his  sickly  infancy.  Sophia  succeeded  in 
obtaining  William's  good  word  for  her  husband's  Elec- 
torate, while  Bavaria  and  Brandenburg  were  sent  empty 
away,  with  the  petty  mortifications  rankling  in  their  hearts 
which  our  authority  has  pathetically  described.^  Sophia 

^  Recueil  des  Pieces,  Gargan  MSS.    Add.  Brit.  Museum. 
Stepney  Papers. 

Gargan  MSS.,  from  the  Hanoverian  archives.  Additional  MS.  Brit. 
Museum.  The  paper  is  entitled  "  What  passed  at  the  Hague  betv^een 
King  William  III.  and  the  Electors  of  Brandenburg  and  Bavaria  ;  "  and 
there  is  much  more  well  worth  attention. 


I 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


355 


put  off  the  Brandenburg  regality  to  a  more  convenient 
season,  and  returned  to  her  home  with  the  advantage  she 
had  gained  for  her  lord. 

The  closer  proximity  Sophia  held  to  the  disputed  English 
succession,  the  more  anxiety  was  manifested  by  Roman 
Catholics  to  induce  her  adoption  of  their  faith.  She  was  the 
only  Protestant  surviving  among  her  mother  s  once  numer- 
ous family.  Madame  de  Brinon,  a  friend  of  her  sister  Louisa, 
the  Abbess  of  Maubisson,  thought  herself  qualified  to  argue 
her  into  the  pale  of  their  Church.  Sophia  thus  expresses 
herself  on  the  matter  to  Leibnitz,  who  seems  to  have  pressed 
for  an  answer  to  the  French  lady-controversialist.  Sophia's 
definition  of  the  office  of  the  favourites  of  temporal  princes 
is  remarkable,  considering  her  rank,  and  that  she  had  fre- 
quently held  the  reins  of  government.  It  is  historically 
true  in  most  instances. 

The  Duchess  Sophia  to  Leibnitz. 

J.  1691.1 

"  I  think,  to  compare  God  to  a  prince  does  not  accord.  The  faults  of 
princes  make  the  people  run  to  their  favourites,  and  to  their  ministers, 
because  they  have  not  capacity  enough  to  supply  so  many  audiences  and  to 
satisfy  so  many  demands.  But  these  faults  are  not  to  be  found  in  God,  for, 
as  we  beheve,  He  never  considers  our  prayers  importunate,  and  listens  to 
them  without  any  trouble.  Thus  one  can  pay  one's  respects  to  Him  without 
either  applying  to  His  mother,  who  is  not  regent,  or  to  the  favourites.  She 
does  not  control  His  mind,  because  it  is  to  be  believed  that  the  heavenly 
court  is  governed  very  differently  to  those  of  earth.  However,  I  do  not 
condemn  in  the  least  those  who  like  to  amuse  themselves  with  idle  dis- 
course. People  do  so  many  stupid  things  in  the  world,  they  may  at  any 
rate  do  that  which  causes  neither  good  nor  evil." 

Leibnitz  in  answer. 

It  must  be  owned  that  Madame  de  Brinon  expatiates  perfectly  well  on 
saints  and  images,  and  that  she  talks  like  a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne.  If  the 
thoughts  and  the  expressions  of  the  people  were  regulated  thus,  there  would 
be  no  harm  ;  but  things  of  the  kind  are  exaggerated  in  a  strange  manner, 
and  I  am  well  assured  (although  they  say  the  contrary)  that  the  people  love 
the  Virgin  more  than  God  himself,  for  whom  they  have  more  fear  yet  less 
affection.  God  knowing  perfectly  all  our  wants,  the  honour  that  one  does 
to  saints  in  claiming  their  intercession  can  serve  but  to  prove  our  humiUty 
and  our  desire  to  please  Him  by  our  honouring  those  with  whom  we  sup- 
pose He  is  well  pleased." 


^  Ilten.    The  initial  means  June  or  July. 


356 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


Leibnitz  proceeds  to  argue  the  "for"  and  "against''  of  ibis 
vexed  question,  in  terms  leaning  more  to  tbe  "for''  tban  could 
be  expected  from  the  antagonist  of  Newton,  concerning  the 
sustaining  influence  of  the  Creator  among  the  starry  host. 
If  we  were  not  admitted  behind  the  scenes,  and  pretty  well 
aware  that  his  actual  motives  were  rather  to  ascertain  which 
ritual  was  the  most  effective  for  governing  the  population, 
rather  than  which  was  the  truth,  some  doubt  might  exist  as 
to  his  sincerity  as  a  Protestant.  Like  the  illustrious  lady 
with  whom  he  corresponded,  all  sects  were  indifferent  ex- 
cepting in  a  political  point  of  view.  He  concludes  his  letter 
to  Sophia,  however,  with  this  information : — 

"  I  see  that  Madame  de  Brinon  considers  the  worship  rendered  to  the 
Virgin  as  of  a  different  species  from  that  which  is  offered  to  the  other 
saints.  Nevertheless,  the  pre-eminence  attributed  to  the  Virgin  is  founded 
on  an  after-thought.  Our  Lord  appears  to  elevate  St  John  the  Baptist 
above  all  other  human  beings ;  and  the  ancient  church  considered  the 
angels  above  the  Virgin.  St  Epiphanius  says  so  in  express  terms.  The 
title  of  Queen  of  Heaven  is  not  well  enough  founded  to  be  employed  in 
public  worship."  ^ 

The  civil  contempt  with  which  Sophia  dismissed  this 
dogma  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  did  not,  however, 
prevent  her  from  making  a  present  of  some  of  her  needle- 
work to  the  chapel  of  the  convent  in  Italy  to  which  her  old 
servant  and  friend,  the  librarian  Abbe  Mauro,  belonged. 
Here  is  her  note  of  acknowledgment  to  his  rapturous 
thanks.  No  doubt  he  saw  in  every  stitch  a  hope  of  the 
Protestant  princess's  conversion. 

Sophia  to  the  Abbate  Mauro. 

"  ISth  January  1692. 
"  Sir, — You  have  fully  rewarded  me  for  the  present  I  made  to  your 
convent,  in  giving  me  the  contentment  which  has  been  very  agreeable. 
I  might  expect  that  your  fervent  prayers  would  be  blessed  by  God.  I  see 
that  I  never  occupied  my  hands  better  than  on  that  work,  and  that  I  am 
the  only  princess  whose  labours  have  called  forth  such  a  reward  from  your 
convent,  by  which  you  would  immortalise  me.  But  I  fear,  when  the  worms 


^  Ilten's  Collection,  p.  211. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER, 


357 


have  eaten  me,  they  will  not  spare  my  work.  Thus  you  and  your  capitu- 
laires  will  do  more  for  me  than  I  have  done  for  you,  as  you  will  contribute 
by  your  prayers  in  procuring  me  inestimable  gifts.  This  insures  my  affec- 
tion to  you  whilst  I  live. — Always  your  attached 

"  Sophia, 

Princess  Palatine,  Duchess  of  Brunswick  and 
Lunenburg,  Princess  of  Osnaburg/' 

Such  was  the  usual  ofScIal  style  of  Sophia's  signature 
after  she  became  reigning  Duchess  of  Brunswick-Lunen- 
burg, and  before  the  elevation  of  her  husband,  if  eleva- 
tion it  were,  to  the  electoral  dignity  had  olficially  taken 
place.  To  her  friend  Leibnitz  she  merely  signs  "  Sophie.'' 
Their  correspondence  was  now  frequent,  because  Leibnitz 
was  resident  at  Berlin,  having  followed  the  Princess  Sophia 
Charlotte  to  Brandenburg,  and  taken  office  at  her  court. 

The  title  of  Elector  of  Hanover  was  at  last  given  to 
Ernest  Auguste  in  1692.  When  the  valiant  defence  of  Chris- 
tendom by  Ernest  Auguste  and  his  brother  the  Duke  of  Zelle, 
the  bravery  of  his  eldest  son  George  at  the  siege  of  Vienna, 
the  deaths  in  battle  against  the  Turks  of  his  two  young 
heroes — his  second  son  Frederic  and  his  fourth  son  Charles, 
in  their  bloom  of  life — and  the  unceasing  fidelity  of  the  whole 
family  to  their  Imperial  suzerain,  are  all  considered,  it  must 
be  owned  that  the  coveted  reward  was  grudgingly  and  im- 
perfectly bestowed.^  In  March  1692  the  Emperor  declared 
Ernest  Auguste  the  ninth  Elector,  yet  he  was  not  given 
the  liberty  to  vote.  The  honour  was  merely  titular,  al- 
though added  to  it  was  the  well-sounding  dignity  of  hered- 
itary standard-bearer  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire.  Forth- 
with Sophia  changed  her  title  of  Duchess  of  Brunswick- 
Lunenburg  for  Electress  of  Hanover. 

Sophia,  about  the  summer  of  1692,  claimed  of  her  daugh- 
ter and  son-in-law  a  former  promise,  that  their  little  son 
Frederic  William  should  be  consigned  to  her  care,  for  educa- 
tion with  her  other  grandson  George,  afterwards  George  11. 

^  RemiuSjin  his  Memoirs  of  the  House  of  Brunswick,  most  truly  observes, 
— The  whole  Empire  ought  to  have  personally  returned  thanks  to  Ernest 
Auguste." 


358 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


The  next  visit  her  daughter  paid,  she  brought  the  boy  for 
this  purpose^  to  Herenhausen ;  but  the  education  plan,  howso- 
ever well  meant,  was  a  failure.  The  infant  Frederic  William 
and  the  small  heir  of  Hanover,  the  moment  they  beheld  each 
other,  manifested  that  extraordinary  and  mutual  antipathy 
which  continued  through  their  lives.  Infants  as  they  then 
were,  a  regular  personal  contest  took  place  whenever  they 
met.  Frederic  William  was  wild  and  savage  beyond  all 
that  could  be  imagined,  and  Sophia  began  to  regret  having 
undertaken  the  responsibility  of  so  impracticable  a  cha- 
racter. The  daily  battles  between  him  and  little  George 
of  Hanover  were  as  fierce  as  two  children  of  four  years  old 
could  engage  in ;  and  when  not  fighting  his  cousin,  the  imp 
of  Brandenburg  flew  from  mischief  to  mischief  with  aston- 
ishing celerity.  Great  was  the  general  consternation  when 
one  day  he  swallowed  a  silver  buckle.  All  in  his  grand- 
mother's household  mourned  with  her,  excepting  the  wilful 
patient  himself,  who  was  more  turbulent  and  audacious  than 
ever  when  he  found  himself  the  object  of  general  solicitude 
and  the  tearful  attention  of  the  Electress  Sophia.  In  a  fortu- 
nate hour,  while  watching  him  devouring  more  voraciously 
than  usual,  the  natural  good  sense  of  Sophia  prevailed  ; 
she  burst  out  laughing,  and  declared  the  Brandenburg 
prince  convalescent  from  all  ill  effects  of  the  buckle,  and, 
tired  of  the  trouble  she  had  laid  on  herself,  she  sent  him  off 
to  Berlin,  and  surrendered  him  to  his  rightful  owners. 
He  and  his  cousin  George  hated  each  other  ever  after 
through  life.^ 

The  retreat  of  Sophia  from  the  daily  routine  of  her  own 
court  to  the  peaceful  shades  of  Herenhausen  had  one  tragic 
effect,  on  which  perhaps  she  had  not  calculated.  Sophia 
Dorothea,  her  young  daughter-in-law,  was  left  ostensibly 
to  sustain  the  honours  of  the  first  princess  there.  She  was 
really  without  power  of  any  kind,  either  derived  from  great- 
ness of  character  or  strength  of  position.  Of  course  she 
became  the  victim  of  the  malice  of  the  evil  women  be- 


Varnhagen  von  Ense. 

2  Margravine  of  Baireuth. 


2  Ibid. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


359 


fore  whose  intrusion  the  Electress  Sophia  had  retreated. 
Hitherto  the  young  wife  of  the  hereditary  prince,  George, 
had  lived  an  exemplary  life,  possessing  the  entire  friendship 
of  her  mother-in-law  and  the  respect  of  the  people.  Her 
husband,  like  her  father-in-law,  had  been  absent  constantly 
with  the  army,  excepting  in  the  season  called  that  of  winter- 
quarters  ;  therefore  his  infidelities  had  not  been  noticed  by 
her.  But  when  Europe  had  fought  itself  out  of  breath,  and 
the  Brunswick  troops  were  not  so  actively  employed,  the 
Elector-Bishop  and  his  eldest  son  returned  to  Hanover, 
where  their  lawful  partners  soon  perceived  that  others 
usurped  their  proper  places. 

Two  sisters,  Elizabeth  and  Katharine  de  Meissenburg, 
had  made  their  appearance  at  the  court  of  Hanover  many 
years  before,  in  search  of  eligible  establishments.  The 
eldest  married  M.  de  Platen,  the  governor  of  the  hereditary 
prince,  Duke  George ;  the  other  sister  married  M.  Busche, 
the  tutor  of  Duke  Max.  Scandal  affirmed,  that  when  Eliza- 
beth became  the  all-powerful  and  avowed  mistress  of  the 
BIshop-duke,  Ernest  Auguste,  her  sister,  Madame  Busche, 
obtained  the  attentions  of  his  son  George.  Madame  Busche 
lost  her  husband,  but  soon  married  General  Weycke.  The 
partiality  of  both  father  and  son  gave  these  sisters  un- 
bounded power  at  the  court  of  Hanover,  and  they  took 
into  their  unholy  alliance  a  handsome  girl  of  rank,  Made- 
moiselle de  Schulenburg,  considered  the  beauty  of  the  court, 
and  greatly  preferred  by  the  hereditary  prince,  George,  either 
to  his  lawful  wife  or  to  Madame  Busche.  About  the  com- 
mencement of  the  year  1694  these  vile  persons  were  installed 
in  all  the  public  distinction  of  feminine  dishonour  which 
makes  the  annals  of  the  courts  of  Charles  II.  and  Louis  XIV. 
detestable.  Madame  Platen  had  her  opera-box  at  the  left 
hand  of  that  of  the  Bishop-Elector,  in  the  magnificent  new 
opera-house  he  had  built,  and  the  other  women  had  propor- 
tionate distinctions.  M.  Platen  was  the  minister  of  state 
who  had  stepped  into  the  influential  station  of  Leibnitz, 
then  absent  at  the  Brandenburg  court ;  and  M.  Platen, 
the  minister,  was  ready  to  back  any  iniquity  his  woman- 


360 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


kind  and  their  allies  might  devise.  Such  was  the  strong 
alliance  of  wickedness  before  which  Sophia,  Electress  of 
Hanover,  had  previously  retreated,  and  her  daughter- 
in-law,  Sophia  Dorothea,  was  finally  destined  to  suc- 
cumb. 

The  kindness  of  the  Electress  Sophia  had  been  great 
towards  the  unfortunate  young  lady,  when  her  life  was 
despaired  of  by  the  court  physicians  during  her  illness 
after  the  birth  of  her  daughter.  The  Electress  took  her  under 
her  care  when  supposed  to  be  dying,  and  prevailed  on  her 
to  stay  with  her  at  Herenhausen,  where  she  nursed  her 
convalescent,  and  then  put  forth  the  whole  powers  of  her 
mind  to  delight  her.i  Every  day  produced  some  enter- 
tainment in  grove,  bower,  or  on  the  lake  —  conversation, 
music,  dancing,  and  fishing,  were  by  turns  the  prevalent 
amusement.  Health  and  vivacity,  after  a  time,  returned  to 
the  drooping  Princess,  although  her  husband  no  longer  paid 
her  the  least  attention.  He  had  a  healthy  heir  for  succession, 
and  a  daughter  to  extend  his  alliances  ;  by  the  example  of  his 
brothers,  he  saw  the  expense  and  trouble  of  a  large  family 
of  princes,  and  without  any  other  reason  he  abandoned  his 
consort.  As  a  still  greater  injury,  he  permitted  the  evil 
women  of  the  Platen  family  to  irritate  and  aggravate  her 
in  every  possible  manner. 

Thus  George,  the  Hereditary  Prince,  had  forsaken  and  ne- 
glected his  wife  ever  since  the  birth  of  his  daughter,  without 
alleging  the  slightest  reason.  He  could  not  deny  that  she 
was  sweet-tempered,  obedient,  and  virtuous — dutiful  and 
attentive  to  his  mother,  and  an  excellent  parent  to  their 
two  children.  But  when  he  returned  from  his  campaigns, 
and  she  found  herself  left  lonely  at  court  to  sustain  its 
tiresome  routine,  and  do  its  daily  honours,  the  object  of 
scorn  to  rivals  not  so  handsome  as  herself,  she  lost  some  of 
these  good  qualities — all,  if  the  scandals  of  that  time  are  to 
be  believed — and  became  so  furious  in  temper  that,  w^hen 

^  Authentic  Narrative  of  the  Sufferings,  &c.,  of  Sophia  Dorothea,  Princess 
of  Zelle,  from  the  German . 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


361 


mutual  aggravation  ran  too  liigli,  she  and  the  Hereditary 
Prince  her  husband  fought,  and  even  scratched.  His  chief 
excuse  was,  that  she  gave  him  long  loud  scoklings  in 
French  every  time  they  met — not  without  due  deservings, 
if  all  tales  are  true.  The  poor  outraged  one  obtained  little 
sympathy  on  any  side,  excepting  from  her  mother-in-law ; 
but  then  the  Electress  Sophia's  counsels  were,  to  follow  her 
example,  bear  all  such  wrongs  with  quiet  dignity,  and  fix 
her  heart  on  calmer  pleasures  than  those  of  court  life.  At 
twenty-five  her  daughter-in-law  could  not  learn  this  wise 
lesson.  She  flew  to  her  father  and  mother  at  Zelle  with 
her  children,  implored  their  protection,  and  an  asylum 
with  them.  All  their  ambitious  ends  had  been  answered 
by  having  placed  her,  the  daughter  of  a  morganatic  alli- 
ance, as  the  consort  of  a  European  sovereign,  their  grand- 
son as  its  heir,  and  a  boundless  reversionary  prospect  of 
grandeur  for  their  descendants  in  the  succession  to  Great 
Britain.  Sophia  Dorothea  received  cold  comfort  from  her 
once-adoring  parents,  who  merely  advised  her  to  go  home 
and  behave  herself  placidly.  She  was  so  much  enraged 
that  she  took  them  at  their  word,  and  returned  directly 
to  Hanover.  That  day  there  was  some  family  festival 
at  Herenhausen,  at  which  the  Electress  Sophia  received 
her  husband  and  sons,  George  and  Max,  as  her  guests. 
The  outriders  of  the  hereditary  princess  announced  her  ap- 
proach, and  were  sent  back  to  invite  her  to  the  fete.  But 
her  carriage  never  paused,  and  carried  her  past  Heren- 
hausen to  Hanover.  Her  husband  manifested  great  rage, 
although  his  mother  suggested  that  his  princess  went  on 
merely  to  rearrange  her  dress.  From  this  trifling  pro- 
vocation another  scene  of  violence  followed,  when  the 
Hereditary  Prince  George  and  his  consort  met;  and  soon 
after  he  betook  himself  to  his  Hungarian  campaign, 
leaving  his  young  wife  forlorn  In  her  difficult  position 
at  the  Hanoverian  court,  surrounded  by  the  worst  and 
wickedest  of  her  sex,  whose  interest  it  was  to  destroy 
her. 

Antony  Ulric,  Duke  of  Brunswick  -  Wolfenbuttel,  the 


3G2 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


head  of  the  house  of  Brunswick,  who  had  been  rather 
ecHpsed  by  the  warrior-bishop,  now  Elector  of  Hanover, 
and  his  aspiring  branch,  seems  to  have  interfered  rather 
injuriously  in  the  numerous  family  feuds  of  his  cousin. 
Two  of  Sophia's  tall  handsome  sons,  Frederic  and  Charles, 
had  already  found  soldier's  graves.  Her  third  son,  Duke 
Maximilian,  who  was  secretly  a  Eoman  Catholic,  and  openly 
a  general  in  the  Emperor's  service  in  1694,  sustained  the 
place  of  second  prince  at  the  court  of  his  father,  the 
Elector  Ernest.  He  was  a  great  friend  of  his  cousin, 
Antony  Ulric,  and  was  spirited  up  by  him  to  litigate  the 
old  claim  for  division  of  the  Guelphic  possessions  among  the 
sons  of  the  family.  There  was  another  person  of  the  same 
party,  the  handsome  Philip  Count  Koningsmarck,  colonel 
of  the  Elector  Ernest's  guards,  who  had  been  brought 
up  in  infancy  with  Sophia  Dorothea.  To  this  friend,  and 
to  her  brother-in-law  Max,  Sophia  Dorothea  imprudently 
complained  of  her  wrongs,  and  claimed  their  protection, 
entreating  them  to  help  her  to  escape  to  the  court  of  her 
kinsman,  Antony  Ulric,  whom  she  considered  in  the  light 
of  a  father,  as  she  had  been  betrothed  before  her  present 
wretched  wedlock  to  his  eldest  son,  deceased,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  customs  of  those  times,  she  had  been  brought  up 
at  his  palace.  Whatsoever  was  the  meaning  and  conduct 
of  the  unfortunate  princess,  it  is  indisputable  that  Count 
Koningsmarck,  a  vain  and  vicious  young  man,  put  the  worst 
construction  on  her  confidence,  and  boasted  of  it,  so  that  it 
came  to  the  ears  of  Madame  Platen.  Between  that  evil 
woman  and  Koningsmarck  the  greatest  intimacy  had  ex- 
isted ;  but  he  had  recently  forsaken  her.  Furious  jealousy 
led  her  to  the  destruction  of  Koningsmarck.  She  flew  to 
her  infatuated  old  lover,  the  Elector  Ernest  Auguste,  and 
placed  before  him  the  notes  she  had  intercepted  between 
his  daughter-in-law  and  Philip  of  Koningsmarck.  Madame 
Platen  easily  obtained  from  the  Elector  orders  for  a  party 
of  his  trabants  or  guards  to  intercept  and  arrest  Konings- 
marck, who,  they  found,  was  to  have  an  interview  with  the 
princess  that  evening.    There  is  not  the  slightest  evidence 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


363 


that  Ernest  Auguste  meant  to  have  Count  Komngsmarck 
assassinated,  but  only  imprisoned  for  future  trial  or  exami- 
nation. Madame  Platen,  however,  had  her  private  mo- 
tives for  carrying  out  vengeance  to  the  height.  She  sta- 
tioned the  trabants  in  the  places  most  convenient  for  seiz- 
ing Koningsmarck ;  ^  but  whether  his  death  was  occasioned 
by  his  own  resistance  or  her  murderous  directions,  there 
exists  no  evidence  that  can  be  depended  upon.  That 
Madame  Platen  was  near  the  spot,  and  saw  her  faithless 
lover  and  calumniator  die,  is  asserted,  and  that  she  stamped 
her  vengeful  foot  on  his  face.  By  her  orders,  his  body,  in 
his  rich  dress,  was  thrust  into  a  sewer,  the  place  walled  up, 
and  all  signs  of  the  homicide  obliterated  so  completely  that 
no  traces  were  discovered  of  Koningsmarck  until  the  reign 
of  George  11. ,  when  alterations  were  making  in  the  palace, 
and  his  skeleton,  to  which  some  tatters  of  rich  clothing  still 
adhered,  was  discovered  in  its  unholy  lair.^ 

The  Hereditary  Prince  George,  the  husband  of  Sophia 
Dorothea,  had  not  the  least  knowledge  or  concern  with  this 
murder ;  be  was  far  away  with  his  troops  on  the  frontiers  of 
Hungary,  doing  hard  battle  with  the  Turks.  His  father  was 
grieved  and  deeply  perplexed  by  the  untoward  accident,  as  it 
was  represented  to  him  by  the  she-keeper  of  his  conscience, 
such  as  it  was.  The  guilt  of  the  father  and  son  was  not  that 
of  the  death  of  Koningsmarck,  but  in  their  systematic  practice 
of  vice,  which  led  them  to  put  confidence  and  power  in  the 
worst  hands  they  could  fall  into.  The  subsequent  persecu- 
tion of  the  unhappy  young  wife  of  George,  and  her  lifelong 
imprisonment,  if  she  were  innocent,  were  far  worse  than 
the  slaughter  of  Koningsmarck  in  a  scuffle,  even  if  the 
father  and  son  had  ordered  it.  Unfortunately  for  her,  the 
boastful  tongue  of  Koningsmarck  at  the  table  of  Augustus, 
Elector  of  Saxony,  and  letters  he  had  written  to  his  com- 

1  This  young  man  had  been  educated  in  England,  at  Foubert's  boys' 
school,  at  the  top  of  the  Haymarket.  He  and  his  tutor  were  examined  at 
his  elder  brother's  trial  for  assassinating  Tom  Thynne  in  Pall  Mall.  Count 
Charles  Koningsmarck  was  acquitted  :  he  died  during  his  campaign  in  the 
Morea  against  the  Turks. 

^  Horace  Walpole,  both  History  and  Letters. 


364  SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


panions  in  iniquity,  weighed  heavily  against  her,  although, 
untried  and  condemned  without  hearing,  both  might  be 
false  witness ;  and  her  conduct  in  after  life  would  lead  to 
that  conclusion. 

Many  persons  who  have  the  command  over  their  tempers, 
and  are  watchful  as  to  the  words  that  pass  their  lips,  seem 
to  have  no  control  over  the  expression  of  their  feelings  by 
the  pen.  When  under  irritation,  they  give  vent  to  their 
resentment  in  written  taunts,  and  these,  of  course,  rise  up 
against  them  when  anger  has  passed  by.  The  unfortu- 
nate Sophia  Dorothea's  worst  misfortunes  arose  from  this 
species  of  folly.  She  wrote  her  complaints  in  notes  to 
Koningsmarck,  while  her  resentment  was  warm,  turning 
withal  into  ridicule  and  abusing  those  she  thought  neglect- 
ful or  unkind  to  her.  Among  the  objects  of  her  satire  were, 
of  course,  the  Elector,  her  uncle  and  father-in-law,  and  all 
his  evil  familiars,  of  both  sexes.  What  was  worse,  she 
attacked  her  own  father,  whose  devotion  to  herself  and  to 
her  mother  had  been  previously  most  admirable.  These 
fatal  notes  were  found  in  the  apartments  of  Koningsmarck, 
and  placed  before  her  father,  the  Duke  of  Zelle.^  He  never 
forgave  her  the  stinging  satire  with  which  she  had  men- 
tioned him.  He  had  loved  her  too  fondly  to  endure  such 
conduct.  From  the  moment  he  saw  these  letters  he  aban- 
doned her,  his  only  child,  to  the  mercy  of  her  enemies.  It 
was  said  that  letters  proving  grosser  crime  on  her  part  were 
found,  but  that  was  decidedly  false,  or  they  would  have  been 
urged  against  her.  It  is  highly  to  the  credit  of  her  mother- 
in-law  that  she  conducted  herself  humanely  in  the  disastrous 
affair.  In  the  papers  she  left,  the  poor  prisoner  spoke 
highly  of  the  Electress  Sophia. 

The  hapless  Princess  was  ultimately  forsaken  by  her 
father,  and  never  again  saw  her  children,^  though  her 
tender  mother  sometimes  visited  her.  Slie  was  immured 
thirty-one  years  in  the  fortress  of  Ahlden,  in  her  father's 

^  Authentic  Narrative  of  the  Sufferings,  &c.  of  Sophia  Dorothea,  Princess 
of  Zell,  from  the  German. 
^  Afterwards  George  II.,  and  Sophia  Dorothea,  Queen  of  Prussia. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER.  365 

territory  of  Zelle ;  therefore  she  was  rather  her  father's 
prisoner  than  her  husband's.  At  Ahlden  she  died  1725, 
a  few  months  before  George  I/s  death,  summoning  him 
with  her  last  words  before  the  judgment-seat  of  God. 

And  what  part  did  her  mother-in-law,  Sophia  Electress, 
take  in  this  tragedy  ?  She  had  done  all  for  her  that  she 
was  able  to  do  before  it  came  to  the  climax.  She  tried  per-  » 
suasion,  actuated  by  quiet,  good  sense ;  had  advised  her  to 
bide  calmly  until  the  bad  time  passed  by  :  she  had  nothing 
else  to  offer.  Sophia  herself  had  retreated,  in  expectation  of 
a  similar  storm  beating  against  her  defenceless  head  from 
the  same  quarter.  Her  principal  enemy  was  the  same  as 
that  of  her  daughter-in-law,  Madame  Platen ;  but  Sophia, 
as  the  mariners  say,  gave  her  a  wide  berth,  and  thus  sailed 
clear  of  her. 

A  question  of  some  importance  may  occur,  relative  to  the 
opinion  held  by  Sophia  concerning  her  daughter-in-law's 
guilt  or  innocence.  Two  or  three  years  afterwards,  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans  wrote  a  passage  in  one  of  her  letters^ 
answering  one  of  Sophia's,  in  which  she  had  evidently  been 
discussing  the  fate  of  "Madame  d'Ahlen'' — the  name  by 
which  the  Hereditary  Princess  went  after  her  imprison- 
ment. For  when  George  her  husband,  Ernest  Auguste  her 
father-in-law,  and  the  Duke  of  Zelle  her  father,  with  their 
satellites  Platen  and  Bernstorf,  had  agreed  on  the  confine- 
ment of  the  hapless  lady,  she  was  called  after  the  domain 
in  which  she  was  incarcerated,  as  a  blind  to  the  public. 
The  Duchess  of  Orleans  wrote  to  her  aunt  Sophia  :  I  have 
just  come  from  church,  and  from  the  holy  communion ;  and 
having  done  my  duty  to  God  the  almighty,  am  now  doing  It 
to  my  dear  aunt.  Gallantries  here  are  very  common,  but 
they  do  not  all  end  in  so  tragic  a  manner.  Had  the  Princess 
d'Alen  been  educated  like  us  in  Germany,  and  not  a  la 
Frangaise,  she  would  not  have  experienced  so  much  trouble. 
I  still  know  all  the  Lutheran  hymns  I  learnt  at  Hanover. 
What  we  learn  in  our  youth  we  do  not  easily  forget.'' 

^  Ilten's  Collections,  from  the  inedited  letters  of  Elizabeth  Charlotte, 
Duchess  of  Orleans,  December  25,  1698. 


366 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


There  is  no  want  of  kindness  or  good  sense  in  this  remark  : 
from  it  may  be  gathered  that  the  unfortunate  wife  of  George 
I.  had  been  brought  up  without  religion,  Protestant  or 
Catholic.  Gallantry,  in  the  court  language  of  that  day, 
was  the  polite  term  for  guilt.  That  various  degrees  of 
guilt  might  be  attributed  to  every  person  engaged  in  this 
frightful  transaction  there  is  no  doubt,  excepting  to  the 
unfortunate  victim  herself,  whose  passionate  and  lifelong 
assertions  of  innocence,  her  virtual  divorce  before  it  was 
pretended  that  she  deserved  it,  for  no  reason  excepting  to 
obviate  the  Inconvenience  of  her  bringing  too  numerous  a 
family  of  princely  Brunswickers,  ought  to  be  considered  in 
her  exoneration. 

It  was  not  very  long  after  the  mysterious  catastrophe 
which  led  to  the  lifelong  incarceration  of  their  unfortunate 
daughter-in-law,  that  decline  and  ill  health  visited  the 
stout  frame  of  the  Electress  Sophia's  consort,  the  warrior- 
bishop,  now  universally  termed  the  Elector  Ernest  of  Han- 
over. He  had  never  previously  known  what  sickness 
was.  The  strong  man  was  beaten  down  almost  into  im- 
becility at  once.  His  first  idea  was  to  desire  the  society  of 
his  neglected  wife,  who  did  not  disdain  to  amuse  him  with 
the  humble  means  which  he  in  his  childishness  craved  for. 
What  this  was  may  be  learned  by  an  answer  that  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans  wrote  to  her  aunt  in  1697,  describing 
the  occupations  of  her  sick  prodigal,  who  had  returned  to  be 
nursed  and  comforted.  I  should  be  very  sorry  if  ma  tante 
no  longer  numbered  me  among  her  children.  I  am  grieved 
to  hear  that  Oncle  has  still  such  inflamed  eyes.  All  the 
bad  feeling  Oncle  manifests  against  me,  is  the  work  of  the 
false  reports  of  wicked  people,  for  Oncle  is  the  most  good- 
humoured  man  in  the  world.  I  am,  notwithstanding,  glad 
that  Oncle  amuses  himself  so  greatly  with  playing  with 
your  '  Liebden'  the  game  of  the  goose,  as  I  know  that  of 
late  years  he  has  not  liked  to  be  in  your  society ^ 

^  In  the  letters  of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  the  word  "  your  Liebden"  is 
often  used  instead  of  "  your  Highness,"  apparently  by  agreement.  It  may 
be  translated  "  your  Love,"  or  "  your  delectability." 


I 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


3G7 


Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  circumstance  in  Sophia's 
life,  to  the  historical  reader,  is  the  personal  friendship  she 
and  her  daughter  formed  with  that  extraordinary  and  un- 
accountable hero,  Peter  the  Great.  Voltaire  vigorously 
resisted  the  authentic  documents  that  Frederic  the  Great 
insisted  on  supplying  him  with,  in  order  that  he  might  tell 
truth,  and  shame  whosoever  ought  to  be  shamed  by  that 
ratherrare  historical  process.^  Our  Sophias,  both  motherand 
daughter,  wrote  what  they  observed  to  their  friend  Leibnitz, 
without  caring  for  any  political  bias.  And  we  see  in  their 
lively  letters  the  Czar  in  his  youth,  afflicted,  it  is  true,  with 
his  family  malady  of  epilepsy,  but  with  his  stately  figure 
as  yet  unscathed  by  bodily  torture,  and  his  fair  fresh 
features,  which  Sophia  Electress  describes  most  truly  as 
"very pretty,"  free  from  the  impress  of  crime  and  agonising 
passions. 

The  Elector  of  Brandenburg  had  been  courting  the 
young  Czar  for  his  good-will  regarding  the  erection  of  his 
Electorate  into  a  kingdom.  He  had  received  him  on  his 
March  of  Brandenburg  with  great  hospitality,  and  passed 
him  forward  to  the  Guelphic  dominions,  where  he  had 
perforce  to  pass  through  the  district  of  Coppenbriick  in 
Zelle — a  fief  of  ours,"  as  the  Electress  of  Hanover  says, 

but  belonging  to  the  Prince  of  Nassau.''  Here  the  two 
Sophias,  mother  and  daughter,  regularly  waylaid  Peter,  and 
insisted  on  his  coming  to  a  stand  and  accepting  their 
acquaintance  and  hospitality  at  the  Castle  of  Coppenbriick. 
Peter  at  last  entered  into  treaty,  declaring  that  if  he  did  as 
desired,  no  one  must  look  at  him  excepting  the  Serenities  to 
whom  he  chose  to  be  visible,  for  he  had  an  intense  objection 
to  be  looked  at  by  strangers,  and  still  greater  to  speak 
German.  The  Sophias  promised,  and  vowed  that  the 
*^  illustrious  Czar  should  have  his  own  way  entirely/'  And 
accordingly  his  enormous  cortege  drew  nigh,  July  17,  1697, 
in  which  travelled  ostensibly  three  Eussian  ambassadors, 

^  Voltaire  said  he  dared  not  use  the  preuves  Jiistoriques  which  Frederic 
sent  him,  regarding  the  dark  tragedy  of  the  death  of  Peter's  eldest  son. 
— Lettres  de  Voltaire  et  Frederic. 


368 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


amongst  whom  figured  the  famous  Le  Fort,  a  young 
Genevese  tradesman,  favourite  and  factotum  to  Peter  the 
Great.  The  most  profound  incognito  veiled  the  movements 
of  the  Czar,  who  journeyed  thus  through  Europe  in  the  train 
of  his  o-wn  ambassadors. 

Before  the  great  event  occurred  of  the  Czar's  issuing 
out  of  his  obscurity,  a  parley  took  place,  for  his  Majesty 
found  that  the  Duke  of  Zelle,  and  all  the  princes  of  the 
house  of  Hanover,  excepting  the  invalid  Elector,  Ernest 
Auguste,  to  say  nothing  of  the  little  Sophia  Dorothea, 
daughter  of  the  sad  captive  at  Ahlen,  expected  to  make  his 
acquaintance  besides  the  two  Electresses,  and  he  had  not 
bargained  for  such  a  crowd.  However,  the  old  warrior  Duke 
of  Zelle,  whom  he  previously  knew,  was  admitted  to  the 
czarish  presence  ;  and  he  talked  Dutch  with  Peter,  and  pro- 
mised that  he  should  not  be  looked  at  too  much  ;  and  finally 
escorted  him  incognito  through  the  crowd  which  had 
assembled  in  the  courtyard  of  Coppenbruck,  by  a  side-door, 
into  the  presence  of  the  assembled  Serenities''  of  the  house 
of  Hanover.  Nevertheless,  Peter's  self-command  nearly 
broke  down  in  the  awful  moment  of  presentation.  "  My 
mother  and  I,'"  says  the  Electress  of  Brandenburg,^  "  be- 
gan to  make  our  bows,  but  the  Czar  covered  his  face  with 
his  hands,  exclaiming,  '  Ich  kenn  nicht  sprechen  '  [I  cannot 
speak],  and  summoned  Le  Fort  to  his  side,  whom  he  called 
his  right  hand,  and  ordered  him  to  reply.  He  seemed  in- 
deed very  bashful ;  but  we  soon  calmed  him,  and  got  him 
to  a  seat  at  the  supper-table  between  my  mother  and  my- 
self, where  each  amused  him  in  turn.  Sometimes  he  himself 
answered  us  very  pleasantly ;  sometimes  he  called  on  his 
interpreters,  of  whom  he  had  two.  Eeally  he  said  nothing 
but  what  was  very  proper  on  all  the  subjects  discussed. 
My  lively  mother  put  many  questions  to  him,  which  he 
answered  with  great  promptitude.  And  I  am  amazed 
that  he  was  not  annoyed  by  this  style  of  our  conversa- 
tion, for,  as  his  people  said,  it  is  not  customary  in  his 
country.  As  to  his  grimaces,  I  had  expected  them  to 
^  Letter  to  Leibnitz  by  the  Electress  of  Brandecburg. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER.  369 


be  much  worse  than  they  really  are.  It  is  evidently  quite 
out  of  his  power  to  correct  or  alter  them/'  The  Electress 
here  alludes  to  the  epileptic  contortions  which  ever  and  anon 
passed  over  Peter's  features,  marring  their  regular  beauty. 
But  the  portrait  is  not  deformed  with  the  disgusting  traits 
shown  by  her  granddaughter  Frederica,  Margravine  of 
Baireuth,  when  Czar  Peter,  twenty  years  older,  was  pre- 
sented before  her  young  astonished  gaze.  These  were  better 
times  for  the  great  Czar,  before  sorrow,  crime,  and  cruelty 
had  left  their  impress  upon  him,  and  perhaps  kinder  hearts 
and  brighter  minds  were  communing  with  him  that  July  day 
at  Castle  Coppenbriick.  "  One  can  see  he  had  no  master, 
who  taught  him  to  eat  nicely/'  resumes  the  Electress  of 
Brandenburg,  "  yet  he  has  a  natural  manner,  which  pleased 
me  much.  He  soon  felt  himself  quite  at  home,  and  per- 
mitted every  gentleman  on  service  to  enter,  and  at  last  the 
ladies,  regarding  whom  he  at  first  made  some  difficulty. 
Soon  after,  he  ordered  all  the  doors  to  be  shut,  and  caUing 
his  favourite  Le  Fort,^  he  commanded  him  not  to  suffer  any 
one  to  leave  the  room.  Then,  demanding  great  glasses  to 
be  brought,  he  filled  flowing  bumpers  with  his  own  hands, 
and  sent  round  for  every  one  to  drink,  saying  '  that  he  did  it 
to  their  honour.'  Some  one  would  have  had  Quirini  (her 
Electoral  Highness's  chamberlain)  fill  the  glasses,  but  the 
Czar  took  them  into  his  own  hands,  filled  them  himself,  and 
then  gave  them  to  Quirini  to  distribute — a  great  condescen- 
sion,^  of  which  we  could  not  have  thought  him  capable.  I 
made  my  musicians  perform  several  pieces,  in  order  to  see  the 
impression  Italian  music  produced  on  him.  He  said  he  liked 
particularly  the  voice  of  Ferdinando,  whom  he  rewarded,  like 

1  Le  Fort  was  the  son  of  a  Genevese  tradesman,  and  brought  up  to  trade 
himself.  While  he  lived  he  was  Czar  Peter's  better  angel,  but  the  career 
of  this  interesting  young  man  was  now  drawing  to  a  close  :  he  died  in  1699. 
His  great  master  mourned  for  him  with  all  the  savage  strength  of  his  cha- 
racter, and  gave  him  a  royal  funeral. 

2  Raumer,  in  his  "  Contributions  to  History,"  describes  exactly  this 
national  custom  of  the  Czars,  as  performed  by  the  Empress  Elizabeth, 
Peter's  daughter,  at  the  revolution  that  placed  her  on  the  throne. 


VOL.  VIII. 


370 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER, 


the  gentlemen  of  the  court,  with  a  flowing  glass.  In  order 
to  please  him,  we  remained  four  hours  at  table,  and  drank 
healths  d  la  Muscovite — that  is,  all  at  once,  and  standing. 
Frederic  was  not  forgotten/'  This  was  her  only  child,  that 
impracticable  little  one  whose  pranks  had  lately  thrown  her 
mother  and  her  Hanoverian  court  into  consternation.  In 
order  to  set  the  Czar  dancing,  I  requested  Le  Fort  to  let 
the  Muscovite  musicians  enter,  who  accordingly  made  their 
appearance  after  supper  was  concluded.  The  Czar,  however, 
would  not  begin  until  he  saw  how  we  danced,  which  we 
did,  to  induce  him  to  do  the  same.  But  he  said  he  could 
not,  and  he  would  not  dance,  for  he  had  no  gloves,  and  he 
sent  in  quest  of  a  pair,  and  had  his  whole  luggage  turned 
over  without  success.  My  lively  mother  danced  with  the 
big  Commissary,  and  opposite  danced  Le  Fort  with  the 
daughter  ^  of  Countess  Platen ;  the  Chancellor  danced  with 
the  mother.  All  went  on  very  gravely,  an5  the  Musco- 
vite dances  were  found  delightful.  Every  one  was  greatly 
pleased  with  the  great  Czar,  and  no  one  looked  better 
pleased  than  himself.''  It  was  scarcely  possible,  though,  to 
resist  laughing,"  the  Electress  of  Brandenburg  adds  in  a 
postscript,  "  when  the  Czar's  fool  saying  something  too 
saucy,  his  czarish  Majesty  seized  a  broom  and  swept  him 
out  of  the  room  " — as  bad  rubbish. 

From  the  narrative  of  her  daughter,  it  is  evident  that  the 
Electress  of  Hanover,  when  she  received  guests  of  her  own 
rank,  was  surrounded  by  all  the  ill-disposed  women  whom 
she  had  retired  to  avoid  contact  with,  at  least  in  everyday 
domestic  life ;  for  these  Platens  and  Schulenbergs  filled  offi- 
cial places  at  the  courts  of  her  husband,  her  son,  and  her 
grandson  George  11.,^  and  by  an  astounding  arrangement,  of 
almost  patriarchal  descent,  in  vice,  they  were  the  disgraces  of 
her  children  and  grandchildren's  courts,  and  the  pests  of  her 
own  household  whenever,  as  on  this  occasion,  she  received 
her  equals.   The  Electress  has  a  fling  at  the  painted  J ezebel 

^  This  scion  of  a  corrupt  tree  was  afterwards  the  infamous  Countess 
Kilmansegge,  mistress  to  George  I. 

*  The  Countess  of  Yarmouth  was  one  of  the  descendants  of  Madame 
Weycke. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


371 


Platen  In  the  ensuing  letter,  which  comprises  another  nar- 
rative of  the  great  Czar's  visit.  As  the  minds  of  the  two 
Sophias  were  decidedly  various  In  quality,  and  therefore 
each  sketched  from  different  points  of  view,  the  letter  of  the 
Illustrious  mother  Is  given  as  well  as  that  of  the  daughter, 
without  much  fear  of  fatiguing  the  reader  by  repetition  of 
circumstances  ;  for  Sophia,  Electress  of  Hanover,  Is  by  no 
means  the  heroine  of  her  own  pen,  howsoever  she  may  be 
that  of  her  daughter. 

Sophia,  Electress  of  Hanover,  to  Leibnitz.^ 

"  Herenhausen,  Aug.  11,  1697. 
Now  I  must  tell  you  that  I  have  seen  the  illustrious  Czar.  His  Ma- 
jesty's expenses  were  defrayed  by  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  until  Wesel, 
but  he  was  compelled  to  pass  through  Coppenbriick,  which  is  a  fief  of  our 
house,  belonging  to  the  Prince  of  Nassau.  We  requested  his  Majesty  for  an 
audience,  for  he  keeps  everywhere  his  incognito,  and  his  three  ambassadors 
represent  him.  He  consented  to  see  us  if  in  a  private  room,  and  only 
accompanied  by  my  daughter  of  Brandenburg,  and  my  three  sons,  George, 
Christian,  and  young  Ernest  Auguste.  Although  Coppenbriick  is  distant 
from  here  [Herenhausen]  four  great  German  miles,  we  hastened  thither, 
having  sent  Court-Marshal  Koppenheim^  before  us,  in  order  to  make  the 
necessary  arrangements.  We  arrived  before  the  Muscovites,  who  reached 
Coppenbriick  about  eight  in  the  evening,  and  we  alighted  at  the  house  of  a 
peasant.  Despite  of  our  agreement,  there  was  such  a  multitude  assem- 
bled that  the  Czar  declared  he  could  not  pass.  A  negotiation  forthwith 
was  carried  on  between  our  party  and  him  for  a  long  time.  At  last  my 
eldest  son  was  forced  to  scare  away  the  intruding  spectators  by  the  help  of 
our  guards.  Whilst  the  Russian  ambassadors  entered  Coppenbriick  in 
state.  Czar  Peter  stole  to  the  side-stairs,  escorted  by  the  Duke  of  Zelle. 
We  went  into  the  room  to  visit  his  Majesty,  and  the  first  ambassador, 
M.  le  Fort,  of  Geneva,  became  our  interpreter.  The  Czar  is  high  in  stature, 
his  face  very  pretty,  and  his  whole  expression  is  noble.  He  manifests  great 
liveliness  of  spirit,  and  answers  quickly  and  well.  He  derives  no  advan- 
tages from  aught  but  nature,  for  his  manners  are  untaught  and  uncouth. 
We  went  to  table  directly:  M.  Koppenheim  performed  the  office  of  marshal. 
He  presented  the  serviette  or  table-napkin  to  his  Majesty,  who  was  embar- 
rassed with  it,  for,  instead  of  the  serviette,  he  is  served  with  the  ewer  and 
basin^  after  dinner.  His  Majesty  sat  at  table  between  myself  and  my  daugh- 
ter, having  on  each  side  an  interpreter.    He  became  very  gay  and  chatter- 


^  Gottingischen — Historische  Magaziu,  vol.  ii.  part  i. 

2  Koppenheim  does  not  appear  in  the  younger  Sophia's  letter. 

^  Such  were  the  customs  in  the  courts  of  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I.,  and 
at  Windsor  Castle,  when  Queen  Anne  received  the  German  King  of  Spain, 
afterwards  the  Emperor  Charles  VI. 


372 


SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  KANOVEE. 


ing,  and  we  contracted  a  great  friendship  together.  The  Czar  and  my  daugh- 
ter exchanged  tabatieres  [snuff-boxes] :  that  of  the  Czar  was  adorned  with 
his  crest  in  diamonds;  my  daughter  was  much  pleased  with  it.  We  remained 
rather  a  long  time  at  table,  and  would  willingly  have  remained  much  longer, 
feeling  not  the  least  fatigued,  the  Czar  being  in  a  most  cheerful  mood,  and 
amusing  us  very  much.  Mj  daughter  ordered  her  Italians  to  sing  ;  their  song 
pleased  the  Czar,  although  he  confessed  he  loved  not  music.  I  asked  him 
*  if  he  liked  the  chase  V  He  replied  :  '  His  father  [Czar  Alexis]  did  ;  but  as 
for  himself,  he  had  had  from  his  youth  the  greatest  inclination  to  naviga- 
tion and  feu  d'artifice.'  [This  last  probably  comprised  all  sorts  of  artillery 
and  combinations  of  gunpowder.]  The  Czar  added,  that  he  himself  worked 
at  the  construction  of  ships.  He  showed  us  his  hands,  and  made  us  feel  the 
calosities  formed  on  them  from  hard  work.  After  dinner  his  Majesty's 
fiddles  came,  and  we  danced  Russian  dances,  which  I  prefer  to  the  Polo- 
naise. The  ball  lasted  till  four  in  the  morning.  We  had  formed  a  plan  of 
sleeping  at  a  neighbouring  castle,  but  when  morning  broke  we  preferred 
returning  here  without  having  slept,  and  came  home  very  happy  with  our 
excursion.  It  would  be  too  long  to  tell  you  in  detail  all  we  saw.  M.  Le 
Fort  and  his  nephew  botl  wore  French  dresses  ;  they  are  very  clever.  I 
could  not  speak  to  the  two  other  ambassadors,  nor  to  any  of  the  princes  who 
formed  the  Czar's  suite.  His  Majesty,  not  knowing  that  the  neighbourhood 
was  without  accommodations  for  us,  earnestly  pressed  to  see  us  again  the 
next  morning.  Had  we  been  previously  acquainted  with  his  wishes,  we 
would  have  arranged  so  as  to  have  been  lodged  in  the  vicinity,  for  his  com- 
pany greatly  delighted  us.  He  is  a  most  extraordinary  man.  I  cannot  give 
you  a  description  of  him,  nor  can  you  form  an  idea  of  what  he  is  without 
having  seen  him.  His  heart  is  good,  and  full  of  noble  feelings.  He  gave 
way  to  no  excess  in  drinking  when  in  our  presence  ;  but  as  soon  as  we  with- 
drew, his  suite  fully  indemnified  themselves.  Our  Court-Marshal  Koppen- 
heim  has  well  deserved  the  superb  sable  he  was  presented  with  for  holding 
their  heavy  heads.  He  said  that  the  Russian  nobles,  even  in  the  depths  of 
intoxication,  remained  gentle  and  amiable." 

The  Electress  of  Hanover,  about  a  month  afterwards, 
announced  ^  to  Leibnitz  that  the  Czar  had  sent  her  a  pre- 
sent of  four  fine  sable  skins  and  three  pieces  of  damask, 
but  the  damask  was  too  small  for  any  use  except  chair- 
cushions.  And  then  she  says  ''that  Czar  Peter  was  on 
his  progress  to  Amsterdam,  where  he  went  to  public- 
houses  and  amused  himself  with  the  sailors,  besides  assist- 
ing at  the  construction  of  his  ships  building  there.  He 
declares  that  he  performs  fourteen  handicrafts  very  com- 
pletely. I  would  not  lose  for  a  great  deal  the  advan- 
tage of  having  seen  him :  he  is  most  amusing  in  all  his 


1  Historische  Magazin,  &c.,  September  15,  1697. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


373 


ways.  He  seems  to  feel  the  charm  of  beauty,  but  not 
to  be  inclined  to  gallantry  :  if  we  had  not  taken  such 
great  pains  to  meet  him,  he  would  have  thought  little 
enough  about  us.  In  his  country  the  natural  complexions 
of  the  women  cannot  be  seen  for  white  and  red.  One  of  the 
marriage-presents  consists  of  paint  for  the  face.  Madame 
Platen,  on  this  account,  was  immensely  admired  by  the 
Muscovites.  Czar  Peter  took  our  stiff  corsets  of  whalebone 
for  our  persons :  he  mentioned  with  great  surprise  the 
hardness  of  the  German  women's  bones.''  Thus  it  is  evi- 
dent the  illustrious  Czar  had  joined  in  the  waltz.  He  was 
accompanied  to  Holland  by  four  dwarfs  ;  and  these  Sophia 
describes,  saying,  that  two  of  them  w^ere  well  propor- 
tioned and  well  educated.  The  Czar  kissed  and  patted  one 
of  the  dwarfs,  whom  he  likes  the  best.  He  likewise  took 
the  head  of  our  little  princess  between  his  hands,  and  kissed 
her  twice  :  her  top-knot  was  much  disordered;  he  kissed  her 
brother  as  well."  These  children  were  George  Augustus 
(George  II.  of  Great  Britain),  about  ten  years  old,  and  the 
little  princess  with  the  top-knot  was  young  Sophia  Dorothea 
(daughter  to  the  poor  prisoner  at  Ahlen),  afterwards  Queen 
of  Prussia,  whose  little  daughter  in  her  turn  was  frightened 
and  discomposed  by  Peter  the  Great,  and  told  the  world 
what  she  thought  of  him — not  quite  so  leniently  as  her 
grandmother,  and  her  ancestress  the  Electress  of  Hanover, 
have  done,  when  in  his  youth  he  was  passing  to  his  far- 
famed  shipbuilding  work  at  Saardam. 

Soon  afterwards  the  Sophias,  mother  and  daughter,  sepa- 
rated, and  each  went  their  way — the  daughter  to  her  palace 
of  pleasures,  near  her  new  city  of  Berlin,  and  her  mother  to 
nurse  her  sick  husband.  Whatsoever  may  be  thought  of 
the  orthodox  Christianity  of  Sophia,  Electress  of  Hanover, 
her  practice  is  not  to  be  decried,  for  she  received  her  hus- 
band without  reproaches  when  he  returned,  in  the  imbecil- 
ity of  sickness,  to  be  soothed  and  cared  for.  Her  daughter 
mentions  him  with  tenderness  in  the  following  letters  to 
her  mother,  in  which  indeed  she  shows  a  feeling  heart  for 
other  sufferers  as  well  as  her  sick  lord  and  fatlier: — 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


Sophia  Charlotte,^  Electress  of  Brandenburg,  to  her  Mother, 
Sophia,  Electress  of  Hanover. 

"  A  Berlin,  ce  15  Octohre  1697. 
"  Our  good  Madame  Klenck  needs  no  excuses  for  not  replying,  for  it 
is  very  natural  in  the  sad  state  she  is,  which  time  alone  can  remedy,  pro- 
vided her  health  does  not  suffer.  That  of  my  lord  and  father,  of  which 
your  Electoral  Highness  did  me  the  honour  to  tell  me,  seems  in  a  case 
which  only  gives  cause  for  sorrow.  I  have  always  feared  that  he  would 
injure  himself  by  taking  so  many  remedies,  for  then  the  original  strength 
will  not  return,  the  want  of  which  is  his  sole  malady.  That  ought  to  con- 
sole him,  if  he  can  carefully  restore  it.  Dear  to  me  as  are  the  news  from 
Hanover,  I  tremble  lest  every  post  should  bring  me  afflicting  intelligence. 
I  see  well  that  the  correspondence  of  Madame  [Duchess  of  Orleans]  is  the 
sole  pleasure  of  your  Electoral  Highness.  The  news  she  sends  from  the 
Spaniard  has  been  found  worthy  by  La  Rosiere  to  be  sent  to  the  Prince  of 
Conti.  I  will  not  close  my  letter  before  I  have  tidings  from  Poland  : 
they  will  divert  some  moments  of  your  Electoral  Highness.  The  poor 
king  ^  is  in  a  great  labyrinth.  I  wish  him  tranquil  possession  of  his  king- 
dom, because  he  has  shown  so  much  compassion  for  M.  Klenck.  His 
envoy  here  is  a  heaii  blondirif  well  made,  who  has  very  white  hands,  and 
dresses  himself  like  a  doll  ;  but  that  is  all,  for  no  one  can  extract  a  word 
from  him.  La  Rosiere  always  mounts  guard  on  him.  M.  Albensleben  is 
here,  and  very  good  company  he  is  for  me,  being  a  most  estimable  person. 
He  is  still  sad  for  the  death  of  his  brother,  whom  I  also  much  regret. 
Thus,  without  thinking,  I  have  recurred  to  the  same  theme,  from  which  I 
would  have  diverted  the  mind  of  your  Electoral  Highness.  For  fear  of 
saying  anything  more  of  that  kind,  I  will  no  more  but  entreat  her  to  be- 
lieve me  all  my  life  her  very  humble  daughter, 

"  Sophie  Charlotte." 

The  Electress  of  Brandenburg  to  the  Electress  of  Hanover.^ 

"  A  Berlin,  ce  25  Octobre  1697. 
"  At  the  same  moment  I  have  received  two  of  your  Electoral  Highness's 
letters,  and  I  am  not  surprised  to  find  you  touched  with  the  death  of 
M.  de  Klenck.  I  am  so  to  a  degree  which  I  cannot  express,  for  it  is  re- 
gretable  for  a  thousand  reasons.  Monseigneur  my  father  has  lost  a  very 
honourable  and  agreeable  man,  who  loved  him.  As  for  his  poor  wife,  I 
know  not  how  to  think  of  her  without  heartache,  for  I  know  the  state  the 
loss  will  throw  her  into,  and  with  her  malady,  affliction  will  bring  her  to 
the  tomb.  I  avow  that  I  am  particularly  her  friend,  and  I  was  so  of  M.  de 
Klenck ;  being  two  persons  worthy  of  esteem,  therefore  my  affliction  is  the 
greater.  Poor  Madame  de  Mart  is  much  to  be  pitied  also,  and  I  take  all  the 


^  Recueil  des  Pieces.    MSS.  from  the  archives  of  Hanover,  copied  by 
Gargan,  librarian,  and  presented  by  George  lY. 
^  Augustus  Frederic,  Elector  of  Saxony. 
^  Recueil  des  Pieces.  MSS.  King's  Coll.  Brit.  Mus.  Gargan. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


375 


part  imaginable  with  her  misfortune.  It  is  most  true,  as  your  Electoral  High- 
ness finds,  that  estimable  people  become  scarce  at  Hanover.  Such  losses 
as  those  of  M.  Grotte  and  M.  de  Klenck  are  irreparable.  God  preserve  to 
us  Monseigneur  my  father,  to  afford  us  consolation.  But  your  Electoral 
Highness  has  given  me  new  alarm  since  the  good  news — brought  here  by 
Prince  Christian — that  the  sweat  had  done  him  good.  I  would  send  news 
from  Poland  to  your  Electoral  Highness,  but  I  know  nothing  particular. 
M.  Ham  said  that  the  affairs  of  the  king  went  well.  My  mind  is  so  full  of 
sad  things,  that  which  I  know  otherwise  I  tell  but  confusedly.  Your 
Electoral  Highness  will  then  excuse  me,  I  hope^  if  I  finish  but  in  assuring 
her  that  I  am  her  very  humble 

"  Sophie  Charlotte." 

The  affliction  of  Ernest  Auguste  was  long  and  trying,  as, 
in  common  with  many  tremendous  sinners,  it  fell  upon  his 
nerves  awfully.  More  than  once  he  died  apparently,  and 
awoke  again  to  agonising  vitality.  The  strength  that  he  had 
wasted  in  a  career  of  vice  had  perhaps  been  given  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  him  on  to  painless  death  in  a  ripe  old 
age,  which  he  scarcely  reached.  At  last  Sophia  saw  her 
prodigal  sinner  finally  depart  this  life.  Singular  as  it  ap- 
pears, no  differences  had  occurred  between  him  and  his 
brother  George  William,  Duke  of  Zelle,  on  account  of  the 
hapless  wife  of  George  of  Hanover.  The  Duke  of  Zelle 
came  to  assist  Sophia  in  nursing  Ernest  Auguste,  who  ac- 
tually expired  in  his  arms.  Nor  did  the  father  of  the 
wretched  prisoner  ask  or  plead  for  any  clemency  in  regard 
to  his  only  child. 

The  lying  in  state  of  Sophia's  consort  in  the  castle- 
chapel  of  Hanover  presented  a  curious  blending  of  his 
ecclesiastical  and  temporal  sovereignties.  The  electoral 
hat  was  on  a  gold  embroidered  cushion  on  one  side  of 
the  head  of  his  coffin,  his  ducal  crown  on  the  other ;  his 
warrior  sword  by  his  right  hand,  his  bishop's  staff  on  the 
left.  Five  banners  were  placed  round  him.  When  the 
funeral  service  was  concluded,  sixteen  of  his  veteran  colonels 
took  up  his  coffin  and  carried  it  to  the  vault  in  the  castle- 
chapel,  where  it  at  present  rests.  His  bishopric  was  taken 
by  his  youngest  son  and  name-child,  Ernest  Auguste  ;  his 
temporal  dominions  by  his  eldest  son  George  ;  while  Max 
and  Christian,  his  two  other  sons,  continued  to  murmur  and 
quarrel  with  their  eldest  brother  regarding  the  illegality  of 


376 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


primogeniture  among  the  sons  of  Guelph,  until  Christian 
was  silenced  by  the  bullet  that  passed  through  his  head 
among  the  waves  of  the  Danube,  when  leading  on  the 
Brunswick  contingent  for  the  Emperor  against  France. 
Duke  Max  declared  himself  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  re- 
tired to  the  court  of  the  Emperor,  where  he  lived  and  died 
holding  high  military  rank. 

The  Elector  of  Hanover  was  buried,  March  18,  1698, 
leaving  Sophia  to  assume  the  widow's  veil,  in  which  we 
see  her  authentic  portraits  depicted,  and  which  she  never 
laid  aside.  There  is  a  letter  extant  from  her  to  her  friend 
Ilten,  who,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  one  of  her  hus- 
band s  ministers  of  state.  She  speaks  of  Ernest  Auguste 
as  if  all  resentment  of  her  wrongs  had  departed,  and  the 
pleasant  remembrance  of  the  loving  spouse  and  protector 
of  her  youth  only  remained.  Sophia  was  a  genuine  cha- 
racter :  she  did  not,  in  a  very  corrupt  and  malicious  era, 
say  always  what  she  thought,  but  she  never  made  a  parade 
of  feelings  she  did  not  experience. 

The  Electress  Sophia  to  Mr  Ilten.^ 

"  Herenhausen,  Februai^y  15,  1698. 
"  I  did  not  doubt,  Sir,  that  you  would  feel  for  me,  and  regret  the 
beloved  master,  to  whom  you  were  very  dear.  "We  ought  to  have  been 
long  since  prepared  for  this  misfortune  ;  but  one  always  hopes  for  the 
thing  one  desires.  I  least  expected  my  misfortune  the  day  on  which  it 
arrived,  and  thus  my  loss  and  my  surprise  equally  overpowered  my  feel- 
ings, which  time  alone  can  restore  ;  and  as  I  have  now  little  left,  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  beneficent  Creator  will  soon  summon  me  to  join  my  dear 
Elector  in  the  other  world.  Still  I  ought  to  rejoice  in  my  children,  and 
in  my  brother-in-law,^  who  do  all  in  their  power  to  console  me,  which  in 
truth  is  a  great  comfort  to  me.  My  friends  also,  amongst  whom  you  are 
included,  sympathise  in  my  trouble.  I  am  truly  grateful,  as  always  very 
affectionately  yours, 

Sophia." 

Sophia  returned  calmly  to  her  dower -palace  as  a  real 
widow,  having  been  previously  driven  there  by  the  usurpa- 
tion of  her  place  and  functions  by  Madame  de  Platen  and 
her  allies.    At  Herenhausen  she  betook  herself  to  the  cul- 


1  Ilten's  Letters. 


2  Duke  of  Zelle. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


377 


tivatlon  of  her  flowers,  trees,  animals,  and  philosophers, 
never  more  to  suffer  interruption.  She  was  very  fond  of 
her  swans  and  waterfowls,  feeding  them  with  her  own 
hands,  and  observing  all  their  pretty  tricks.  She  says  to 
Leibnitz,  in  one  of  her  epistles,  I  have  made  ray  swans 
and  fowls  a  house  in  my  garden.  You  see  I  have  become 
a  good  housekeeper,  having  now  my  manage  entirely  in 
my  own  hands.''  Three  days  afterwards  she  gives  Leibnitz 
the  news  that  her  dear  swans  have  hatched  three  young 
ones,  and  that  it  is  truly  a  pleasure  to  watch  the  old  ones 
passing  over  the  surface  of  the  lake  carrying  their  young 
on  their  backs,  when  the  cygnets  are  weary  of  swimming. 
In  her  letters  to  Leibnitz  she  discusses  philosophy,  coins, 
mineralogy,  and  literature,  and  sometimes  mechanics.  In 
history  she  was  herself  a  character,  and  whatsoever  discus- 
sions she  enters  into,  are  stamped  with  certain  value.  For 
instance,  the  letters  between  herself  and  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans  would  settle  the  point,  were  it  still  disputed,  of  the 
marriage  of  Louis  XIV.  with  Madame  de  Maintenon. 

No  persons  seem  to  have  cast  greater  scorn  at  first  on 
that  lady  than  these  two  princesses  ;  but  the  part  taken  by 
the  Dauphin  settled  the  fact  in  their  mind  that  she  was  the 
lawful  spouse  of  Louis.  Her  appearance  at  chapel  in  the 
seat  of  the  Queen  of  France  assured  the  people,  but  the 
court  and  foreign  royal  famiHes  were  convinced  by  the 
homage  of  her  son-in-law,  to  which  Sophia,  Electress  of 
Hanover,  bears  the  following  testimony : — 

The  Electress  to  Leibnitz.^ 

"  LmsBURGH,  3cZ  August  1699. 
I  thought  I  should  better  repay  you  for  your  letters  by  sending  you 
the  Journal  of  the  literati,  than  by  writing  to  you  myself.  I  thought 
these  lines  might  be  accompanied  by  the  two  which  have  just  arrived, 
although  you  will  not  find  anything  particular  in  them.  I  believe  the 
exhortations  in  the  Magdalene^  have  been  written  by  a  mind  a  la  mode  de 
Madame  Maintenon,  who  probably  takes  Mary  Magdalene  for  a  patron. 
Madame  3  does  not  complain  any  longer  of  the  '  tabouret '  that  she 
offered  to  her  since  she  heard  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy  received  the  same 


1  Ilten's  Collections,  p.  238. 

2  Apparently  some  literary  magazine  published  in  Paris. 

3  Her  niece,  the  Duchess  of  Orleans. 


378 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOYER. 


treatment  from  lier,  as  well  as  the  Dauphin  and  all  his  children.  They 
hold  the  plates  for  her  when  she  eats,  with  a  napkin  upon  the  arms,  and 
do  her  more  honour  than  any  queen.  You  will  see  by  the  last  journal 
that  they  make  Plato  a  good  Christian.  If  the  people  in  France  were  like 
him,  no  one  would  be  ill-used  for  his  religion.  It  seems  that  the  negotia- 
tion to  satisfy  Duke  Maximilian  i  will  not  take  place.  I  have  spoken  to 
the  Duke  of  Zelle  of  what  you  told  me  respecting  the  watches,  which 
went  on  the  same  as,  the  other,  when  two  were  suspended  from  the  same 
cord  ;  but  as  I  have  forgotten  the  circumstances,  I  wish  you  would  inform 
me  of  them.  I  have  sent  a  drawing  of  the  rye  to  Madame,^  to  show  the 
fruitfulness  of  this  climate,  and  have  sent  her  a  portion  of  your  letter 
regarding  her  son.  She  is  preparing  to  visit  her  daughter.  I  hope  Count 
Eanzau  is  satisfied  with  me.     I  wish  you  may  be  so  too,  if  only  for  this. 

....  Mademoiselle  Schulenbourg  tells  me  you  are  coming  here.  I 
am  very  happy  that  such  is  the  case." 

From  the  reply  of  Leibnitz^  may  be  gathered^ that  the 
paper  sent  him  by  the  Electress  Sophia  was  called  the 
Journal  des  Savants,  and  that,  in  regard  to  the  great  hon- 
ours now  paid  to  Madame  de  Maintenon,  he  tells  Sophia 
that  he  well  remembered  he  had  heard  her  Royal  Highness 
of  Orleans  say  how  much  she  should  prefer  to  see  that  lady 
declared  queen  at  once,  than  to  be  forced  to  pay  her  the 
deference  due  to  one,  while  she  appeared  in  an  ambiguous 
character.  This  was  good  sense  ;  yet  her  conviction  of 
Madame  de  Maintenon's  respectability  did  not  hinder  her 
from  hating  her  unweariedly,  and  manifesting  that  hatred 
to  all  her  princely  correspondents.  Yet  the  ministers  of 
France  regularly  read  the  epistles  she  wrote  to  her  aunt 
Sophia,  and  all  the  other  "  Liebdens,''  as  she  termed  them  ; 
nevertheless  they  transmitted  the  missives  to  their  several 
addresses. 

Once  more  was  the  widowed  Electress  disturbed  from 
her  beloved  paradise  of  Herenhausen  at  the  call  of  family 
ambition.  Her  son-in-law,  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg, 
sighed  to  be  called  king ;  his  peculiar  character  gave  him 
no  chance  of  a  success  which  was  only  to  be  obtained  by 
propitiating  his  equals  and  superiors  of  the  great  German 
Bund.  His  consort  cared  a  great  deal  for  pleasure,  but 
very  little  for  the  noise,  parade,  and  pomp,  considered  as 

1  Her  third  son,  then  contesting  the  family  compact  of  the  house  of 
Brunswick.  ^  Her  niece  of  Orleans.  ^  Iltea's  Collections.; 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


379 


such  by  lier  lord.  However,  as  she  had  observed  some 
symptoms  of  alienation  in  her  spouse,  and  seen  a  painful 
family  example  in  the  fate  of  her  sister-in-law,  the  poor 
prisoner  of  Ahlen,  she  implored  the  aid  of  her  mother  in 
the  grand  affair,  and,  announcing  a  political  fit  of  indisposi- 
tion, departed  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  where  the  Electress  of 
Hanover  hastened  to  join  her  in  the  autumn  of  1699.  The 
two  Sophias  planned  proceeding  to  the  Low  Countries, 
where  William  III.  was  to  be  canvassed  in  his  retreat  at 
Loo  by  his  cousin  and  old  friend.  On  their  way  they  visited 
the  Elector  of  Bavaria,  governor  of  the  Austrian  Nether- 
lands, and  he  was  sued  by  them  to  sanction  the  title  that 
the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  was  about  to  assume.  He 
complied,  and  treated  them  with  every  distinction,  although 
left  to  do  the  honours  of  his  court  unassisted  by  his  consort 
(a  daughter  of  John  Sobieski,  the  heroic  king  of  Poland), 
who  would  not  appear.  Leibnitz  says  the  Electress  of 
Bavaria  was  a  very  fair  woman — so  vain  of  her  beauty 
that  she  was  afraid  of  rivalry  from  the  lovely  Electress  of 
Brandenburg,  and  therefore  kept  her  chamber  during  the 
Hanoverian  visit.  The  Elector  of  Bavaria  speeded  his 
guests  on  by  sea  to  Rotterdam,  where,  in  a  violent  autum- 
nal tempest,  their  lives  were  in  danger.  However,  they 
landed  safely  at  Rotterdam,  and  no  sooner  recovered  from 
their  fatigues  than  they  extended  their  literary  patronage 
to  one  who  was  not  desirous  of  the  favour.  Sophia  of 
Hanover  sent  for  Bayle,  the  free-thinking  philosopher  of 
the  age.  Bayle,  who  probably  had  not  a  presentable  coat, 
sent  word  that  he  had  gone  to  bed  early,  being  ill,  and 
could  not  come.  The  zeal  for  literature  of  the  two  Elec- 
tresses  was  not  abated  by  this  reply.  They  wanted  to  visit 
him  in  person  next  morning ;  and  this,  as  philosophers  have 
seldom  their  dens  in  the  most  orderly  arrangement,  was 
still  worse.  Bayle  pleaded  the  continuance  of  the  violent 
headache  that  had  oppressed  him  the  previous  evening.  He 
was  forced  to  keep  his  bed,  the  only  refuge,  poor  man,  he 
had.  Count  Dohna  then  arranged  that,  when  Bayle  was 
better,  he  would  wait  on  the  Electresses  at  the  Hague 


380 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


castle,  where  they  were  staying.  It  is  quite  clear  that  the 
philosopher  would  rather  have  done  anything  else.  He 
was  molested.  Speaking  of  them  in  his  version  of  the 
visitation,  his  disturbance  is  evident.^  Nevertheless  they 
received  him  with  the  utmost  graciousness  at  the  Hague 
palace.  Sophia  of  Hanover  conversed  with  him,  asking 
him  the  most  abstruse  and,  as  he  said,  unaccountable  ques- 
tions. It  is  to  be  hoped  her  Electoral  Highness  did  not 
wait  for  answers.  His  friend  Basnage,  another  philosopher, 
conversed  meantime  with  the  Electress  of  Brandenburg, 
who  took  an  opportunity  of  complimenting  Bayle,  by  telling 
him  she  always  carried  his  works  with  her  wherever  she 
went.  The  Electresses  urged  Bayle  to  accompany  them 
to  Delft.  He  could  not  resist  their  urgency,  but  put  his 
journey  off  so  many  times  that  at  last  they  departed  with- 
out him.  This  exploit  of  philosopher-hunting  being  re- 
ported to  Leibnitz,  he,  a  better  broken-in  courtier  than  the 
lion  of  Rotterdam,  answers,  giving  us  a  little  more  light 
on  accidents  by  field  and  flood :  ^  "  It  is  very  pleasant  to 
make  projects.  The  best  of  all  will  be  that  which  her  Elec- 
toral Highness  of  Brandenburg  planned  with  me  to  visit 
your  Royal  Highness  in  England.  She  would  be  very  glad 
to  meet  you  there ;  as  glad  as  when  you  sailed  in  her 
company  between  Antwerp  and  Rotterdam.  She  admires 
)'our  high  courage  when  the  waves  furiously  tossed  about 
vour  ship.  She  then  told  you  that  you  were  destined  to  be 
the  sovereign  of  the  seas.'' 

The  Electresses  finished  their  tour  after  propitiating 
William  III.,  who  had  nothing  to  say  against  the  exalta- 
tion of  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  as  Frederic  I.  of  Prussia ; 
and,  their  mission  performed,  they  returned  to  their  respec- 
tive palaces. 

From  Bayle's  crustiness  on  this  grand  occasion  the  anec- 
dote arose  of  his  remark  on  the  propensities  of  the  Electress 
of  Hanover  for  asking  questions  ;  the  philosopher  complain- 
ing that  she  wanted  to  know  the  pourquoi  de  pourquoi,  the 
very  why  of  the  wherefore.    The  censure  has  been  attri- 

*  Tract  by  Bayle. 

2  Letter  of  Leibnitz  to  the  Electress  of  Brandenburg. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


381 


buted  to  Leibnitz,  apd  as  if  passed  upon  her  daughter,  yet 
by  those  who  knew  nothing  of  their  relative  situations. 
The  young  Electress  of  Brandenburg  had  looked  up  to 
Leibnitz  as  tutor  and  friend  from  the  hour  she  could  speak, 
perhaps  even  earlier.  He  loved  her  dearly,  and  would 
never  have  sneered  at  her  questions,  however  teasing. 
But  Bayle  was  dug  out  of  his  own  sanctum  of  study — 
threatened  with  princely  visits  that  would  have  involved 
the  necessity  of  book-dusting  and  paper-sorting — forced 
to  put  on  a  best  coat,  perhaps  to  buy  one  on  purpose 
— to  run  the  gauntlet  of  all  the  officials  in  corridors 
and  at  doorways,  in  making  his  way  to  the  presence- 
chamber  of  the  two  Sophias,  and,  when  he  got  there, 
torm.ented  with  unanswerable  questions ;  and  finally  per- 
suaded Into  promising  to  hook  himself  on  their  train,  and 
be  dragged  to  Delft.  And  this  unwilling  lion  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  was  forced  Into  much  manoeuvring  to  get 
clear  of  the  last  Infliction.  No  wonder  he  was  cross  and 
censorious.  But  what  would  Bayle  have  said  or  done.  If  he 
had  been  expected  not  only  to  write  the  amusing  narrative 
that  follov/s,  but  even  to  take  a  part  In  this  rude  play  of 
the  German  magnates? — yet  a  greater  man  did  It,  but  at 
the  same  time  a  better-tempered  philosopher.  Every  one 
must  admire  the  real  good-nature  of  Leibnitz. 

Leibnitz  to  the  Electress  Sophia. 

July  1700. 

^'  Madame, — Although  I  imagine  that  our  Madame  I'Electrice  will  give 
your  Electoral  Highness  a  description  of  our  comic  masquerade  of  the 
village  fair  represented  yesterday  at  her  palace- theatre  of  Lustenberg,  I  can- 
not help  telling  you  something  about  it.  Everything  was  got  up  in  haste  to 
celebrate  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg's  birthday, — that  is  to  say,  the  12  th  of 
this  month  for  the  11th.  The  real  natal  day  fell  on  the  previous  Sunday. 
The  stage  represented  a  village  fair,  with  shops  and  all  their  signs,  where 
they  sold,  for  nothing,  ham,  sausages,  tongue,  wine,  lemonade,  tea,  coffee, 
chocolate,  cakes,  and  sugar-plums.  Margrave  Christian,  M.  Opdam,  M. 
du  Hamel,  and  other  nobles,  kept  the  shops.  M.  Osten  (late  master  of  the 
revels  to  the  King  of  Denmark),  was  the  quack  doctor,  and  superintended 
a  numerous  staffof  harlequins  and  rope-dancers,  amongst  whom  shone  peer- 
less Monseigneur  the  Margrave  Albert.  The  quack  doctor  had  also  admir- 
able vaulters,  who  were,  if  I  do  not  deceive  myself,  the  Count  de  Solms 
and  M.  de  Wassenaar.    But  nothing  was  prettier  than  his  player  of  gob- 


382 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


lets  [Anglice,  tliimblerig\  no  other  than  Monseigpeur  le  Prince  Electoral, 
who  has  learned  effectively  to  play  hocus-pocus." 

Sophia's  grandson  is  the  personage  to  whom  this  compli- 
ment is  due — the  Prince  Electoral,  Frederic  William,  only- 
child  of  her  daughter  the  Electress  of  Brandenburg,  who, 
having  been  born  in  1688,  was,  when  Leibnitz  thus  men- 
tions him,  in  his  twelfth  year  ;  it  is  to  be  hoped  somewhat 
tamer  than  when  his  illustrious  granddame  was  forced  to 
send  him  home  for  cuffing  his  cousin  George,  and  swaUow- 
ing  the  silver  buckle. 

^'  Your  illustrious  daughter,  Madame  I'Electrice,  was  the  doctor's  wife, 
and  kept  her  shop  of  orvietan.^  M.  des  Alleures  represented  very  well  the 
tooth-drawer.  On  the  front  of  the  stage  was  displayed  the  solemn  entry 
of  Monsieur  the  quack  doctor,  mounted  on  an  elephant  made  up  for  the 
occasion^  followed  by  her  Electoral  Highness  the  doctress,  who  was  car- 
ried in  a  chair  borne  by  her  Turks.  The  goblet-player,  the  vaulters, 
tumblers,  merrymen,  and  the  tooth-drawer,  followed  in  procession.  When 
all  the  suite  of  the  quack  doctor  had  passed  by,  there  entered  a  dance  of 
Bohemiennes,  ladies  of  the  court,  led  by  Madame  the  Princess  of  Hohen- 
zollern,  and  they  formed  into  a  pretty  gypsy  ballet.  An  astrologer,  with 
enormous  spectacles  on  nose  and  telescope  in  hand,  was  the  next  mask. 
That  character  was  destined  for  your  Royal  Highness's  faithful  servant 
Leibnitz,  but  Count  de  Wittgenstein  charitably  relieved  me  of  it.  And  he 
poured  forth  incessant  predictions  in  favour  of  our  lord  the  Elector,  who 
listened  to  them  from  the  nearest  box." 

And  these  foretold  the  Prussian  royalty,  now  fast  ap- 
proaching. 

As  for  the  Princess  of  Hohenzollern,  in  the  character  of  first  gypsy  or 
Bohemienne,  she  predicted  the  best  good  luck  in  the  world  to  our  Elec- 
tress in  the  most  agreeable  manner,  sung  in  German  ballad  verse  very 
pretty,  in  the  style  of  M.  de  Besser.*  M.  de  Quirini  ^  was  valet-de-chambre 
to  the  illustrious  doctress  ;  and  as  for  me,  I  placed  myself  where,  through 
my  own  moderate-sized  spectacles,  I  could  observe  the  whole,  and  make 
report  thereon  to  your  Electoral  Highness.  The  maid  of  the  Princess  of 
Hohenzollern  now  had  the  toothache,  whereupon  the  tooth-puller,  with 
blacksmith's  pincers,  laid  hands  upon  her,  and  soon  drew  a  tooth  as  long  as 


1  This  seems  the  shop  of  dried  herbs,  such  as  many  of  our  readers  will 
remember  in  Paris. 

*  German  poetry  was  not  then  so  completely  out  of  fashion  as  it  became 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  when  it  was  scofifed  down  by  Frederic 
the  Great  and  Voltaire.  Perhaps  the  German  lyrist,  praised  thus  by  Leib- 
nitz to  Sophia  of  Hanover,  is  worth  looking  after. 

^  He  has  already  appeared  as  chamberlain  in  the  visit  of  Czar  Peter. 


SOri-IIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


one's  arm,  or  that  of  a  sea-horse,  which  indeed  it  was.  The  quack  doctor 
loudly  lauded,  in  a  solemn  harangue,  the  prowess  of  his  tooth-drawer,  who 
could  pull  a  tooth  of  that  size  without  the  least  pain,  and  advised  every  one 
who  had  teeth  not  to  lose  such  an  opportunity.  Upon  which  several  sick 
boors  stepped  up  for  remedies.  These  were  M.  d'Alefelt  and  M.  de  Flem- 
ing, the  Polish  and  Danish  envoys,  and  our  M.  d'llten,  each  dressed  in  pea- 
sant costume  of  his  native  country.  M.  d'Alefelt,  as  a  Flemish  boor,  and 
M.  Fleming,  in  good  Pomeranian,  sung  verses  of  excellent  omen  to  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg,  and  every  verse  finished  thus — 

*  Vivat  Frederic  and  Charlotte, 
And  he  who  bears  them  ill-will 
Is  a  herlot. '  ^ 

There  was  a  refrain  of  the  Tower  of  Babel,  every  one  present  singing 
this  elegant  chorus  in  his  own  language.  And  M.  Opdam,  to  please  Ma- 
dame the  doctress,  sung  the  song  of  L' Amour  Medicin,  in  praise  of  the 
grand  remedy  of  orvietan.^  At  last  in  came  a  trouble-fete,  in  the  sem- 
blance of  the  regular  court  physician,  who  attacked  the  empiric,  and  then 
ensued  a  verbal  contest  full  of  fun.  The  quack  doctor  bustled  out  all 
sorts  of  testimonials,  papers,  parchments,  privileges,  and  attestations  from 
emperors,  kings,  electors,  and  princes.  The  state  physician  mocked  at  all 
that,  and  displayed  the  medals  of  gold  hanging  round  his  neck.  Then 
our  lord  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  descended  from  his  box,  disguised 
as  a  Dutch  mariner,  and  bought  here  and  there  at  the  shops  of  the  fair. 
The  music  played  from  the  orchestra,  and  every  one  present —  which 
were  indeed  only  the  court,  and  persons  of  distinction  abiding  there 
— declared  that  no  opera,  although  produced  at  the  cost  of  thousands  of 
dollars,  ever  gave  so  much  satisfaction." 

And  none  the  less,  peradventure,  for  the  tone  of  coarse- 
ness which  certainly  pervaded  this  princely  celebration. 
Did  Leibnitz,  when  detailing  to  the  illustrious  Sophia,  his 
patroness,  the  humours  of  the  empiric  and  all  his  merry 
men,  cast  a  thought  on  his  own  antecedents  at  Nuremberg? 
Assuredly  the  character  he  declined  of  the  astrologer  came 
a  little  too  near  his  former  vocation  in  right  good  earnest 
as  astrologer  and  alchymist  to  the  Brunswick  duke,  John 
Frederic,  of  necromantic  memory. 

After  the  Prussian  royalty  had  been  achieved  by  the 
personal  influence  of  the  two  Sophias,  the  coronation  com- 
pleted at  Berlin,  and  all  set  going  in  prosperity  to  the 
delight  of  Frederic  L,  his  beautiful  queen  took  some 
liberties  that  had  been  hitherto  grudgingly  allowed  her. 

1  Perhaps  a  helot,  or  slave,  or  serf. 

2  From  Moliere's  comedy  of*'  L' Amour  Medicin/'  not  in  the  most  refined 
taste. 


384 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


She  extended  her  visits  at  her  mother's  court,  and  there 
recreated  herself  with  masquerades  and  other  delights  not 
considered  orthodox  at  the  Calvlnlst  court  of  her  husband. 
She  was  her  mother's  guest  at  Herenhausen,  In  February 
1702,  with  her  husband's  sister  the  Duchess  of  Courland. 
Sophia  of  Hanover  likewise  entertained  there  the  son  and 
daughters  of  her  deceased  brother  Charles  Louis  and  Louise 
de  Degenfeldt.  They  had  been  given  rank  by  her  father  as 
Count  and  Countesses  of  the  Rhine,  and  called  the  Rhine- 
grave  and  the  Rhinegravlnes.i  The  two  ladles,  Louisa  and 
Amelia,  were  at  this  time  the  principal  attendants  of  their 
aunt  the  Electress  Sophia,  placed  about  her  by  the  Influ- 
ence of  her  niece  of  Orleans,  who  kept  up  a  constant  corre- 
spondence with  these  half-sisters:  their  brother,  Charles 
Maurice,  was  brave  and  handsome,  highly  accomplished, 
and  full  of  learning  and  elegant  courtler-lIke  graces ;  but 
was  a  reveller  and  bon-vivant,  to  the  great  injury  of  his 
health  and  character.  To  her  nephew,  the  Ehlnegrave 
Charles  Maurice,  did  the  Electress  Sophia  confide  the 
mastership  of  the  revels  that  were  to  entertain  her  daugh- 
ter and  their  guest  of  Courland.  The  Feast  of  Trimalcion 
was  the  mask  arranged  by  Charles  Maurice,  and  all  the 
arrangements  were  Roman,  to  the  utmost  rigour  of  cos- 
tume. Couches,  such  as  the  Romans  reclined  upon  at  meals, 
were  arranged  round  the  banquet-table,  and  the  principal 
places  were  occupied  by  those  who  represented  Trlmal- 
cion's  guests.  These  were  the  Queen  of  Prussia,  the  Elector 
George  of  Hanover,  and  his  younger  brother  the  Bishop 
Ernest  Auguste.  As  for  the  Electress  Sophia,  she  con- 
tented herself  with  viewing  the  scene  from  her  box  with 
her  old  friend  and  brother-in-law  the  Duke  of  Zelle,  who 
was  thus  sharing  in  all  the  amusements  and  festivities  of 
his  son-in-law's  court,  while  his  own  daughter  w^as  kept  a 
prisoner. 

Trimalcion  was  acted  by  the  Rhinegrave  Charles  Maurice, 
and  Fortunata,  his  wife,  by  Mademoiselle  de  Polnitz,  one 
of  the  ladles  of  the  Queen  of  Prussia.  When  the  guests 
entered  the  Roman  dining-room,  a  slave  proclaimed,  "  With 

1  Piilnitz. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOYER. 


385 


the  right  foot  first/'  They  were  ah^eady  reclining  at  the 
table  when  Trimalcion's  procession  entered :  he  was  borne 
on  a  litter,  preceded  by  huntsmen  blowing  horns  and  slaves 
singing  in  chorus.  Fortunata  was  summoned  several  times 
before  she  came  :  then  the  guests  were  welcomed  in  form  ; 
pies  were  cut  open,  out  of  which  issued  flights  of  birds,  a  cus- 
tom still  prevalent  in  Spain.  An  ass  was  brought  in  loaded 
with  olives.  Trimalcion  and  Fortunata  had  a  quarrel;  but 
the  learned  Leibnitz,  who  records  the  scene,^  does  not  re- 
veal whether  in  Latin,  French,  or  good  homely  German. 
Out  of  due  consideration  regarding  the  frailty  of  human 
life,  Trimalcion  had  his  will  read ;  his  slaves  all  the  time 
howling  and  sobbing,  and  making  grimaces  of  grief 
Several  slaves  were  freed.  It  was  observed  that  the 
noble  Rhinegrave,  Trimalcion,  drank  nothing  but  right 
Falernian  wine  at  that  memorable  festival,  whereas  his 
usual  potations  were  of  strong  Hungarian  wine,  from 
which  he  abstained,  and  was  carried  off  in  procession 
with  his  Fortunata  in  actual  sobriety,  keeping  up  to  his 
exit  the  classical  costume  of  the  scene  irreproachably. 
The  whole  affair  appears  pedantic  to  frigidity,  yet,  on  the 
return  of  the  fair  Queen  of  Prussia  to  her  own  court,  her 
mother  was  startled  at  hearing  that  a  violent  quarrel  had 
taken  place  between  her  and  his  Prussian  Majesty.  He 
had  heard  a  bad  character  of  the  carnival  masquerades  at 
Hanover; 2  that  they  were  not  consistent  with  good  morals ; 
and,  moreover,  he  professed  himself  jealous  of  the  Rhine- 
grave  Charles  Maurice.  The  Electress  Sophia  hastened  to 
Berlin,  and,  in  consequence  of  her  judicious  manner  of 
dealing  with  the  suspicions  of  King  Frederic,  a  reconcilia- 
tion took  place  with  his  queen.  The  Duchess  of  Orleans 
wrote  by  every  post  to  the  Electress  Sophia,^  entreating 
her  to  remonstrate  with  Charles  Maurice  on  the  fatal  ten- 
dencies of  his  inebriety.  If  the  Rhinegrave  would  ob- 
stinately drink  himself  to  death,  he  certainly  departed  this 

1  Letter  of  Leibnitz  to  Louise,  Princess  of  Hohenzollern,  Feb.  25,  1702. 

2  Polnitz. 

^  Letters  of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  Stutgard. 
VOL.  VIII.  2  B 


386 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


life  at  a  very  convenient  period  for  the  success  of  his  aunt's 
diplomacy  with  her  son-in-law. 

Sophia  had  the  distress  of  seeing  her  faithful  Madame 
Harling,  the  friend  of  many  a  year  of  varied  fortunes, 
decline  most  painfully  at  the  close  of  the  year  1701. 

There  is/'  she  wrote  to  her  niece,  October  15/  "  in- 
finite sorrow  in  witnessing  the  sufferings  of  such  a  per- 
son as  Madame  Harling,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  life- 
long kindness,  overwhelmed  as  she  is  with  sickness.  The 
deep  sympathy  I  feel  for  her  may  truly  be  called  a  sickness 
of  the  mind.  I  doubt  if  any  martyr  ever  suffered  more 
than  she  has  done  :  very  meek  and  sweet-tempered  she  is 
through  it  all.  Nevertheless,  if  I  have  my  portrait  engraved 
by  Pfalz  it  must  be  now  or  never,  for  on  the  recovery  of 
Madame  Harling  she  never  would  let  me  spend  money  on 
these  old  features  of  mine/'  Madame  Harling  was  per- 
fectly right  —  the  last  portrait  painted  of  any  illustrious 
character  is  always  the  one  which  is  identified  by  posterity. 
Often  it  is  drawn  when  disease  or  age  has  rendered  the 
persons  totally  unlike  themselves. 

The  ensuing  March  released  Madame  Harling  from  her 
sufferings,  as  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  thus  writes  ;  The 
death  of  our  good  Madame  Harling  caused  me  severe  pain. 
Although  the  poor  sufferer  is  happier  now,  for  her  exist- 
ence could  not  have  continued  without  perpetual  anguish, 
still  it  is  always  sad  to  see  good  friends  depart.  The 
Queen  of  Prussia  will  be  as  much  grieved  as  myself,  as  this 
good  woman  educated  her  as  well  as  me.'" 


1  Feder. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

SUMMARY 

Sophia  recognised  as  the  next  Protestant  heir  to  England  after  Princess 
Anne  of  Denmark — Her  letter  on  the  subject — Toland's  visit  to  her 
court — Accession  of  Queen  Anne  to  the  throne  of  Great  Britain — Con- 
fidential discourse  with  Lord  Dartmouth — Sophia's  letter  to  Leibnitz — 
Victory  of  Blenheim — Supernatural  appearance  connected  with  it  men- 
tioned by  Sophia  —  Dedication  to  Sophia  of  a  freethinking  book — 
Sophia's  indignation  at  abuse  levelled  at  James  Stuart — Visit  of  the 
Duke  of  Marlborough  and  Lord  Raby — Her  portrait  (see  Frontispiece) 
— Sophia  reviled  to  Queen  Anne  by  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough — Queen 
of  Prussia  eagerly  desires  her  mother's  royalty  in  England — Her  visit 
to  stimulate  her  mother  s  indifference — Her  sudden  death — Illness  and 
deep  grief  of  the  Electress  Sophia — She  loves  as  her  daughter  Caroline 
of  Anspach-Brandenburg — who  marries  the  Electoral  Prince — Sophia's 
granddaughter  married  to  the  heir  of  Prussia — Sophia  rejected  as  heiress 
by  the  Scotch  Parliament — Union  of  Scotland  and  England — Ceremony 
at  Hanover  of  her  recognition — She  avoids  the  sight  of  James  II/s  pic- 
ture— Letters  of  her  niece  of  Orleans — The  Abbess  Louise  paints  a  picture 
for  Sophia — Descriptions  of  the  princes  of  her  race — Letters  to  Leibnitz 
on  his  return  to  Hanover — Sophia's  last  reception  of  Czar  Peter — Dances 
the  taper  dance  with  him — Queen  Anne's  letter  to  Sophia— Sophia's 
death — Burial. 

The  death  of  the  young  Duke  of  Gloucester  had  removed 
the  last  reversionary  Protestant  heir  between  Sophia  and 
the  throne  of  England.  Lord  Halifax,  a  great  leader  of  the 
English  literati,  sent  her  on  the  happy  occasion  a  compli- 
ment, as  it  is  called  in  the  phraseology  of  those  times. 
Sophia  answered  in  these  words  : — 

Herenhausen,  22d  June  170L 
"  You  are  very  obliging,  my  Lord^  to  take  part  in  everything  that 
regards  the  grandeur  of  the  house  into  w^hich  I  am  married ;  and  I  ought 
to  thank  you  in  particular  for  the  affection  which  you  have  testified  to  me 


388 


SOPHIA  J  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


in  the  affair  of  the  succession^  whicli  excludes,  at  the  same  time,  all  Catholic 
heirs,  who  have  always  caused  so  many  disorders  in  England.  I  am  un- 
fortunately too  old  ever  to  be  useful  to  the  nation  and  to  my  friends, 
which,  if  I  could  be,  it  would  make  me  much  in  love  with  life.  However, 
I  shall  wish  that  those  who  are  to  come  after  me  may  render  themselves 
worthy  of  the  honour  they  will  have ;  and  that  I  may  at  least  find  some 
occasion  of  testifying,  by  my  set  vices,  the  esteem  I  have  for  your  merit. 

"  Sophia,  Electress" 

Amongst  Lord  Somers's  papers  was  the  copy  of  a  letter 
from  the  Princess  Sophia  to  Mr  Stepney,  then  minister  at 
Vienna,  in  which  she  expresses  her  apprehensions  that  her 
own  family,  if  they  were  called  to  the  succession,  might 
not  give  satisfaction,  and  rather  recommends  the  making 
choice  of  the  son  of  James  II.,  who  had  done  no  injury, 
was  young,  and  might  receive  what  impressions  we  pleased 
to  give  him. 

Julian  Toland,  one  of  the  heroes  of  Pope  and  Swift's 
Dunciadj  whose  undesirable  reputation  as  a  materialist  or 
freethinker  has  reached  all  its  readers,  was  among  the 
numerous  worshippers  of  the  rising  sun  in  Hanover,  and 
after  the  death  of  the  young  Duke  of  Gloucester  sent  in- 
formation concerning  that  unknovv^n  realm  to  his  party  in 
Great  Britain.  Much  to  the  benefit  of  most  of  his  insular 
readers,  to  whom  even  the  geographical  situation  of  Hanover 
was  a  mystery  only  defined  to  them  by  the  saucy  refrains  of 
some  of  the  Jacobite  songs  of  Robertson  of  Struan,  Toland 
begins  his  lesson  methodically  thus  :  Hanover  is  situated 
in  a  sandy  soil  upon  the  river  Laine,  which  is  navigable 
only  by  small  boats.  It  is  regularly  fortified,  and  divided 
into  the  new  and  old  towns.  The  palace  was  in  old  time  a 
monastery,  but  so  much  metamorphosed  that  no  footsteps 
remain  of  its  original.  There  is  a  pretty  theatre,  with 
handsome  stalls  for  all  qualities."  And  Toland  lets  us  into 
a  secret  of  the  old  German  mode  of  managing  the  good 
citizens  of  the  miniature  metropolises  of  such  states.  "  No- 
body pays  money  for  going  to  a  play  there ;  the  prince,  as 
in  some  other  courts  of  Germany,  is  at  all  the  expense  of 
the  entertainment.  But  the  opera-house,  within  the  palace 
or  castle,  is  visited  as  a  rarity.  Strangers  of  figure  or  of 
quality  are  commonly  invited  to  the  Elector's  table,  where 


SOPHIA,  ELECTUESS  OF  HANOVER. 


389 


they  are  amazed  to  find  such  easy  conversation.  At  court 
liours  all  people  of  fashion  meet  there  without  any  con- 
straint. The  ladies  are  perfectly  well-bred,  and  many  of 
them  handsome.  The  Electress's  maids  of  honour  are 
worthy  of  the  rank  they  enjoy,  especially  Mademoiselle 
Schulenberg,  who  is  a  lady  of  extraordinary  merit.''  Ex- 
traordinary, indeed,  her  merits  were,  for  she  Is  Identical 
with  the  infamous  Duchess  of  Kendal,  prime-mistress  to 
George  I.  Toland's  Ideas  of  female  merit,  It  must  be 
owned,  were  extraordinary. 

Sophia's  recognition  as  heiress  to  the  childless  and  in- 
valid Queen  Anne  had  passed  as  a  law,  at  the  accession  of 
that  Princess.  By  act  of  Parliament,  she  was  prayed  for 
as  such  wherever  the  service  of  the  Church  of  England  was 
celebrated.  The  people  at  large  were  thus  prepared  for 
her  succession  or  that  of  her  line.  Even  her  kinsman, 
Antony  Ulric,  Duke  of  Brunswick- Wolfenbuttel,  who  had 
professed  himself  a  Roman  Catholic  since  the  marriage  of 
his  daughter  Amelia  to  the  heir  of  the  Emperor,  compli- 
mented her  on  this  prospect.^  Duke  Antony  was  very 
ill,  but  his  wit,  learning,  and  poetic  genius  remained  un- 
impaired. Sophia,  In  the  summer  of  1704,  visited  and 
cheered  her  old  friend  with  her  lively  conversation  so  much 
that  he  recovered ;  whereupon  he  addressed  to  her  some 
elegant  verses,  in  German,  on  the  subject  of  her  assuming 
the  privilege  of  her  royal  Anglo-Saxon  ancestry  in  healing 
the  sick. 

At  the  period  of  the  accession  of  Queen  Anne,  Lord 
Dartmouth,  Privy  Seal,  came  on  some  diplomatic  mission 
from  the  English  Court ;  with  him  the  Electress  Sophia  was 
on  confidential  terms,  for  his  father  had  been  an  old  friend 
In  the  times  of  the  banished  Cavaliers.^  To  him,  when 
discussing  the  misfortunes  of  the  royal  line  of  England,  she 
confided  the  fact  that  she  had  been  deeply  disappointed  In 
her  youth  that  Charles  II.  had  not  thought  of  marriage 
with  her.  "  All  the  miseries  arising  from  another  Roman 
Catholic  marriage  would  have  been  avoided,''  she  observed, 

1  Letters  of  Leibnitz  to  Rothmar,  1702. 
Dartmouth  MS.    Notes  to  Buruet's  History  of  Great  Britain. 


390 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


"  and  the  fine  family  of  which  I  have  been  the  mother  would 
have  been  his  heirs/'  ^ 

Sophia  received  a  gay  visit  from  her  daughter,  the 
Queen  of  Prussia,  at  the  commencement  of  1702.  The 
Queen  always  chose  that  season  of  the  year,  in  order  to 
enjoy  her  favourite  diversion  of  the  Carnival  masquerades 
free  from  the  remarks  and  control  of  her  husband's  preachers 
of  the  Calvinist  sect,  who  hated  masquerades  ;  and  no  great 
wonder.  Sophia  saw  her  daughter  and  the  Duchess  of 
Courland  arrive  at  Herenhausen,  escorted  in  a  manner 
greatly  marvelled  at  in  Berlin  and  Hanover  in  the  com- 
mencement of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  would  have  been 
no  marvel  in  the  nineteenth— the  costume  of  the  princely 
charioteer  excepted.  The  Margrave  Albert,  half-brother 
to  the  King  of  Prussia,  insisted  on  performing  the  office  of 
coachman  to  his  sister  of  Courland,  and  sister-in-law  the 
Queen  of  Prussia.  In  spite  of  the  entreaties  of  the  Queen 
and  the  intense  severity  of  the  weather,  he  mounted  the 
coach-box,  and  drove  the  whole  way  from  Berlin  to  her 
mother's  palace  at  Herenhausen,  skilfully  guiding  the  horses, 
with  all  the  reins  in  his  hands,  the  whole  forty  miles  be- 
tween Berlin  and  Hanover.  During  the  performance  of 
this  successful  feat  he  wore  the  full  evening-dress  of  the 
period — silk  stockings,  thin  shoes,  suit  of  embroidered  velvet, 
and  full  flowing  periwig,^  reaching  to  his  waist,  which  ap- 
pendage, it  is  to  be  hoped,  kept  him  from  freezing;  only 
another  for  each  leg  would  have  been  desirable. 

All  Europe  now  rang  with  the  fame  of  the  Marlborough 
victories ;  the  war  through  the  year  1 704  had  become 
gigantic.  Brunswick  troops  had  partaken  in  the  great 
victory  of  Blenheim,  which  occurred  in  the  succeeding  year, 
where  Sophia's  third  son,  Duke  Max,  commanded  the  Em- 
peror's left  wing.  Maternal  pride  led  her  to  exult  in  his 
glory,  although  he  was  now  Roman  Catholic  professed,  and  on 
ill  terms  with  his  brother  and  sovereign,  the  Elector  George. 
Of  course,  the  victorious  Marlborough  and  his  captains  were 
received  as  welcome  guests  at  her  court.  But  before  their 
arrival  she  thus  wrote  to  her  confidant  Leibnitz: — 


1  Dartmouth  MS. 


*  Varnhagen  von  Ense. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER, 


391 


The  Electress  Sophia  to  Leibnitz.^ 

"Sept.  13,  1704. 

"  I  Lave  forgotten,  Monsieur  Leibnitz,  to  thank  you  for  the  plan  of  the 
battle.  The  Elector  [George]  thinks  that  he  has  one  more  particular,  where 
all  is  better  marked.  Destiny  has  ordained  that  the  French  defended  them- 
selves badly.  They  were  so  advantageously  posted,  that  if  they  had  held 
their  own,  they  could  not  have  been  routed. 

^'  I  know  not  if  the  Landrost  Busch  has  confided  to  Luxbourg  the  revela- 
tion he  had  from  his  son,  who  was  killed  there  ;  he  appeared  to  him  and 
prayed  him  not  to  be  afflicted  at  his  death,  because  he  is  very  happy,  &c. 
I  find  this  very  extraordinary,  to  have  known  of  the  battle  so  positively. 
The  Elector  says,  above  all,  '  What  judgment  will  ^I.  Leibnitz  pass  on  this 
subject  ? '  " 

A  very  curious  question  it  is,  as  propounded  by  the  philo- 
sophic Electress  to  her  high-priest  in  those  matters.  The 
three  persons  concerned  in  the  discussion  of  the  above  ghost- 
story — the  Electress  Sophia,  her  son  George  I.,  and  the 
German  Newton  Leibnitz — had  each  their  different  opinions. 
The  Elector  (George  I.)  believed  implicitly  in  ghosts,  vam- 
pires, and  all  the  diablerie  to  which  his  countrymen  seri- 
ously incline.^  He  suffered  superstitious  notions  to  guide 
him  in  his  course  of  conduct,  and,  if  we  may  believe  his 
contemporaries,  lost  his  life  through  the  sudden  shock  of  a 
summons^  to  the  tribunal  of  God.  Sophia,  it  may  be 
seen,  although  she  mentions  the  apparition  of  the  young 
Blenheim  soldier  in  the  briefest  words,  is  startled  fairly  out 
of  her  infidelity.  "  For  Busch,''  she  says,  knew  the  death 
of  his  son  so  positively'' — her  meaning  being,  before  any 
intelligence  of  this  world  could  have  brought  it. 

The  infidel  Toland  had  been  petted  at  the  court  of  Sophia, 
where  he  was  sent,  indeed,  on  a  diplomatic  mission.  And  her 
gracious  reception  of  this  savant  encouraged  one  of  the  same 
clique  to  inflict  on  Sophia  the  injury  of  this  dedication: — 

To  her  Royal  Highness  the  Princess  Sophia,  Electress,  this  Discourse 
of  Freethinking,  in  testimony  of  the  author's  sincere  devotion  (common  to 

^  Ilten's  Collections. 

^  George  11.  fancied  he  had  seen  vampires,  and  has  left  a  judicial  account 
of  these  supernaturals.  The  trial  happening  when  he  was  at  Trieste,  is 
quoted  by  Lord  Byron,  on  whom  it  made  a  strong  impression. 

^  Sent  by  his  injured  wife  from  her  deathbed.  He  did  not  receive  it  until 
six  months  afterwards,  travelling  to  Osnaburg.  He  was  in  good  health, 
but  being  suddenly  shocked  by  reading  it,  he  never  spoke  after.  The  letter 
was  in  his  carriage  when  he  was  taken  out  dead. 


392 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


him  with  all  English  freethinkers)  to  her  Royal  Highness's  person  and 
family,  as  heirs  by  law  to  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain,  and  more  particularly 
of  his  high  esteem  for  those  noble  endowments  of  mind  so  rare  in  princes, 
so  peculiar  for  so  many  ages  to  the  House  of  Hanover,  and  so  conspicuous 
in  her  Royal  Highness,  is  most  humbly  presented  by  her  Royal  Highness's 
most  obedient  servant,  "  Anthony  Collins/'  ^ 

Those  who  are  deep  m  the  literature  of  the  era  of  Pope, 
Swift,  and  Arbuthnot,  will  remember  the  name  of  this  free- 
thinker Collins  in  their  Dunciads  and  satires,  in  company 
with  Julian  Toland,  Leonard  Welsted,  Dennis,  and  Old- 
mixon. 

Notwithstanding  the  full-blown  hopes  of  her  family  rela- 
tive to  the  great  succession,  which  every  wave  of  events 
heaved  nearer  in  reach,  Sophias  good  taste  and  feelings 
were  completely  outraged  by  the  vulgar  abuse  with  which 
the  English  press  bespattered  her  kinsman,  the  unfortunate 
son  of  James  II.  She  wished  to  put  an  end  to  it,  and 
thought  that  if  her  opinion  was  made  known  on  the  matter, 
her  partisans  would  desist — would  be  less  abusive.  Here  are 
her  ideas  on  the  matter,  expressed,  as  usual,  to  Leibnitz  : — 

The  Electress  to  Leibnitz. 

Herenhausen,  2^th  Sept.  1704. 
"  When  I  have  nothing  pleasant  to  relate,  I  prefer  remaining  silent; 
above  all,  when  I  see  that  Hattorf  or  Count  Platen,  who  govern  the  affairs 
of  the  Church,  have  more  power  to  assist  you  than  I  have.  However,  I  find 
that  the  abbey  is  neither  given  nor  asked  until  this  time.  The  master 
[Elector  George]  seems  to  lament  that  your  merits,  which  he  prizes  ex- 
tremely, are  of  no  use  to  him ;  that  he  never  sees  you  ;  and  of  the  His- 
tory you  have  undertaken  to  write,  he  hears  nothing,  although  he  pro- 
mised you  should  be  rewarded  for  it — at  least  this  is  what  he  says.  With 
regard  to  the  Vice-Chancellor,  he  could  not  believe  that  it  would  suit 
your  genius  to  take  upon  yourself  such  disagreeable  affairs,  instead  of  the 
"  Indian  "  correspondence.  However,  I  believe,  if  the  Queen  [of  Prussia] 
writes  to  the  Elector  and  Count  Platen  about  it,  the  thing  would  be  done ; 
and  I  believe  that  the  Queen  would  regret  that  your  sojourn  with  her  had 
done  you  harm.  As  for  any  journey,  it  would  be  far  from  agreeable 
during  this  bad  weather,  if  I  did  not  hope  it  would  bring  about  the 
Queen's  visit  for  the  Carnival.  I  prefer  that  it  should  be  with  the 
Countess  of  Wartenberg  rather  than  not  at  all.  I  think  the  discus- 
sions ^  too  violent  ;  they  are  only  fit  to  amuse  the  populace,  for  the  com- 
parison of  the  Prince  of  Wales  with  Perquin  ^  is  too  absurd.    It  is  not  he 

*  Sophie  Thurfdrstin  von  Hannover,  by  J.  G.  H.  Feder. 

In  the  Parliament  of  England. 
^  Perkin  Warbeck,  the  impostor,  pretended  son  of  Edward  IV.,  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  VII. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


393 


who  has  the  right  of  taking  the  crown  from  me.  If  they  do  not  wish  a 
Catholic  king,  it  belongs  of  right  to  me.  Without  him  there  are  many 
nearer  to  the  succession  than  I  am.  Then  I  don't  like  them  calling  the  Prince 
of  Wales  bastard,  for  I  like  the  truth.  I  am  going  to  the  Vorbereits-Predigt, 
and  thus  conclude  abruptly.     Speak  of  this  with  the  Queen." 

Disgust  at  the  proceedings  of  her  partisans,  and  some 
disposition  for  asserting  an  hereditary  right  to  the  crown 
of  England,  are  visible  in  this  epistle.  The  Duke  of  Marl- 
borough paid  her  a  visit  soon  afterwards,  accompanied  by 
her  grandson  the  Prince  of  Prussia,  and  the  English  am- 
bassador Lord  Eaby.  She  thus  alludes  to  these  distin- 
guished guests  in  a  confidential  letter  to  her  favourite  cor- 
respondent. 

The  Electress  to  Leibnitz. 

Oct,  6, 1704. 

"  I  have  been  too  much  occupied  to  have  had  an  opportunity  of  replying 
to  your  letter;  and  I  believe  you  will  not  think  it  wrong  if  I  confess  that  I 
have  had  more  pleasure  in  seeing  the  Prince-Royal  and  the  Duke  of  Marl- 
borough than  in  taking  the  trouble  of  entertaining  you  with  my  letters, 
which  would  not  have  given  you  half  the  entertainment  that  I  have  had. 
Now  all  is  over,  I  am  not  sorry  to  be  able  to  speak  to  you  of  it,  which 
is  all  that  remains  of  the  past.  I  confess  readily  that  Lord  Raby  has  not 
the  same  polish  as  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  ;  but  as  he  is  a  friend,  I  easily 
overlook  his  little  defects,  which  he  has  perhaps  contracted  from  his  sym- 
pathy for  one  who,  from  her  birth ^  and  position,  should  not  have  had 
much  ;  at  least  I  am  fully  persuaded  that  the  husband  of  this  one  alluded 
to,  will  always  do  all  in  his  power  to  merit  the  Queen's  good  graces.  The 
Duke  [of  Marlborough]  would  never  sit  in  my  presence,  even  at  a  ball.  I 
have  made  him  play,  that  he  might  be  seated.  He  kissed  my  hand  kneel- 
ing. I  never  saw  a  man  more  cheerful,  more  polite,  or  more  obliging, 
besides  being  as  good  a  courtier  as  a  brave  captain.  They  say  he  left 
delighted  with  this  place,  although  nothing  was  found  worthy  of  offering 
to  him ;  but  that  will  follow  in  Holland.  He  is  against  the  bill  for  pre- 
venting occasional  conformity,  ^  and  I  consider  him  as  reasonable  in  every- 
thing as  he  is  agreeable  in  his  manners." 

The  Electress  presented  Lord  Eaby^  with  one  of  her  por- 
traits, painted  at  a  time  of  life  so  displeasing  to  her  friend, 

^  The  Countess  of  Wartenberg,  wife  of  the  King  of  Prussia's  prime- 
minister,  had  been  a  ferryman's  daughter.  The  Electress  alludes  to  some 
scandal  concerning  the  Countess  and  Lord  Raby. 

2  Bill  for  preventing  occasional  conformity  between  the  Non-conformists 
(Dissenters)  and  the  Church  of  England,  which  caused  much  quarrelling 
in  its  time. 

^  He  was  representative  of  a  brother  of  the  great  Lord  Strafford,  and  bore 
the  title  of  Raby  until  Queen  Anne  gave  him  the  family  title  of  Earl  of 
Strafford,  by  which  he  is  well  known  in  history  as  one  of  the  plenipoten- 
tiaries of  the  Peace  of  Utrecht. 


394 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


Madame  Harling  :  it  is  the  original  of  our  frontispiece.^  It 
represents  Sophia  in  widow^s  dress — not  in  the  German  cos- 
tume, but  th^  French,  with  a  large  square  of  black  crape,  one 
corner  drawn  over  the  top  of  her  head,  the  rest  drooping  on 
the  shoulders  and  back.  According  to  the  rigour  of  mourn- 
ing, this  corner  ought  to  have  fallen  low  on  the  forehead,  and 
the  point,  as  disposed  of  by  widows  of  very  ostentatious  afflic- 
tion, might  even  have  reached  to  the  bridge,  and  in  some 
instances,  to  the  tip,  of  the  nose.  In  Sophia's  case  it  only 
peeps — a  very  little  corner — over  the  summit  of  a  high  head- 
dress of  curled  hair.  The  dress  is  tight  to  a  fine  slender 
figure,  the  stomacher  of  bars  of  ermine  and  jewels.  There  is 
great  resemblance  in  her  delicately  chiselled  features  to  her 
ancestress,  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  The  expression  is  ani- 
mated, but  satire  mingled  with  finesse  lurks  under  the 
bright  smile.2 

A  little  sarcasm  seems  mingled  with  the  observation  of 
the  Electress  Sophia  on  the  conduct  of  the  Duke  of  Marl- 
borough. That  he  was  not  satisfied,  may  perhaps  be  rea- 
sonably surmised  from  the  furious  attack  on  Sophia  made 
by  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough  soon  after  this  interview. 
At  the  same  period  the  word  went  among  the  Hanoverian 
party  in  England  that  the  Electress  Sophia  ought  to  be 
invited  to  the  court  of  Queen  Anne.  This  party  movement 
was  used  as  a  threat  by  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough  to 
torment  her  royal  mistress,  over  whom  she  was  then  tyran- 
nising with  the  most  unrestrained  malice.  When  Queen 
Anne  feebly  hinted  some  jealousy  of  her  cousin  and 
heiress  Sophia,  the  female  Marlborough  thus  made  her 
comment :  I  heartily  wish  the  Queen  may  discover  her 
true  friends  before  she  suffers  for  the  want  of  that  know- 
ledge ;  but  as  for  the  business  of  calling  the  Princess  Sophia 
over,  I  don't  think  that  will  be  so  easily  prevented  as  per- 
haps she  may  flatter  herself  it  will ;  though  I  can't  think 

1  See  Frontispiece. 

2  There  are  four  trifling  engravings  of  Sophia  in  the  Print-room,  British 
Museum.  One,  the  best,  resembles  this  portrait  in  costume  and  features, 
but  is  several  years  older  ;  the  cheeks  have  become  flaccid,  and  have  fallen. 
Like  the  mezzotinto  from  the  Raby  portrait,  it  is  surrounded  with  a  ribbon 
or  band  setting  forth  her  recognition  to  the  throne  of  England. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


395 


there  can  be  many  at  least  that  know  how  ridiculous  a 
creature  the  Princess  Sophia  is,  that  can  be  in  their  hearts 
for  her  !  "  ^ 

The  Court  of  Hanover  was  expected  to  be  unusually 
brilHant  that  Carnival,  crowded  with  English  nobles  and 
diplomatists  from  all  the  German  Protestant  courts.  The 
Queen  of  Prussia  set  off  January  15,  1704-5,  expected 
eagerly  by  the  politicians  to  conciliate  all  differing  spirits, 
and  bring,  by  her  influence,  her  mother  up  to  the  mark, 
for  the  future  aggrandisement  of  the  House  of  Han- 
over. The  Duchess  of  Orleans  wrote  on  this  expected 
visit  to  the  Rhinegravine,  her  half-sister,  then  about  the 
person  of  the  Electress  Sophia  :  "  I  have  just  received 
my  aunt's  gracious  letter  2  of  January  16,  whereby  I  learn 
that  the  Queen  of  Prussia  is  expected  at  Hanover  that 
evening.  This  will  give  great  joy  to  you  all,  and  I  do  not 
doubt  that  you  and  Amelise^  will  describe  tome  all  the 
brilliant  doings  and  gay  amusements  during  the  Carnival, 
and  especially  when  the  Queen  of  Prussia  has  her  masquer- 
ade, and  all  about  it." 

Very  different  were  the  pageants  that  were  to  take  place 
at  that  Carnival.  The  Queen  of  Prussia  had  set  out  from 
Berlin  under  an  attack  of  sore  throat.  She  sedulously  con- 
cealed her  indisposition,  lest  she  should  be  disappointed  of 
her  favourite  recreation :  she  however  met  her  favourite 
brother  Ernest  Auguste  on  the  road;  he  thought  her  very 
unwell,  and  persuaded  her  to  rest  and  refresh  at  a  small 
inn,  where  she  slept.  Here  she  was  exceedingly  ill,  yet 
taking  the  attack  only  for  the  effect  of  the  weather,  which 
was  extremely  severe ;  and  being  much  cheered  by  the 

^  Coxe's  Collections  of  the  Marlborough  MSS.  This  passage  occurs  in 
a  browbeating  epistle^  written  to  Queen  Anne  herself  two  or  three  years 
after — written  in  the  third  person,  that  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough  may 
give  vent  to  her  insolence  with  the  more  effect.  The  offence,  whatsoever 
it  was,  that  entailed  on  the  Electress  Sophia  the  vulgar  epithet  of  "  ridi- 
culous creature,"  probably  was  given  at  this  period.  Perhaps  the  present 
which  Sophia  mentions  as  sent  after  Marlborough,  was  considered  beneath 
the  merits  of  the  Duke. 

2  Letter  of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  to  Louise  the  Rhinegravine. — Stut- 
gard  Collection. 

^  The  other  Rhinegravine,  sister  to  Louise,  likewise  in  the  household  of 
the  Electress  Sophia,  her  aunt. 


396 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


presence  of  her  brother,  she  went  on  through  the  snow  the 
next  day,  and  arrived  at  Hanover,  where  she  found  her 
mother,  the  Electress  Sophia,  very  III  with  a  violent  cold,  and 
keeping  her  bed.^  The  Queen  of  Prussia  did  not  adopt 
the  like  prudent  course.  She  gave  receptions  to  diplo- 
matists, dined  In  public,  and  went  to  a  grand  court-ball ; 
from  thence  she  was  carried  to  bed,  and  never  rose  from  It 
again.  A  violent  quinsy  showed  Itself ;  but  wheresoever 
the  disease  of  the  throat  was  situated,  It  did  not  Impair 
her  speech,  for  she  talked  Incessantly.  Her  beloved  brother, 
Ernest  Auguste,  never  left  her;  and  her  sole  concern,  when 
death  drew  near,  was  that  he  should  guard  her  from  all 
ministers  of  religion,  "  that  she  might  not,''  as  she  expressed 
herself,  "  be  harassed  with  controversy.''  ^  She  expired 
Feb.  1,  1704-5. 

Instead  of  the  merry  and  mad  carnival  masquerade,  so- 
lemn mourning  and  bitter  weeping  ensued.  The  suspense 
since  the  first  attack  of  quinsy  on  her  daughter  had  made 
the  Electress  Sophia  dangerously  111 ;  she  was  confined  to 
her  bed  when  the  final  blow  came.  Of  her  feelings  she 
has  left  no  record,  but  It  may  be  seen  by  her  niece's 
pen  that  they  were  those  of  an  individual  who  loses  the 
person  best  loved  on  earth  or  heaven.  She  was  un- 
able to  write  to  Leibnitz,  then  at  Berlin  ;  a  few  words  of 
message  only  were  dictated  by  her  to  Abbe  Mauro,  charg- 
ing him  that  If  he  had  In  his  possession  any  letters  from 
her  to  her  daughter,  the  Queen  of  Prussia,  he  should  keep 
them  carefully,  so  that  they  fell  not  into  other  hands." 
Sophia  was  cautious  regarding  her  son-in-law,  Frederic 
I.,  who,  It  Is  probable,  was  not  spared  In  the  correspond- 
ence with  her  lively  daughter,  whose  talent  for  satire  is 
remembered  In  her  well-known  bon-mot  to  Leibnitz.  The 
philosopher  was  discussing  his  theory  of  atoms,  and  asked 
the  Queen  whether  she  could  form  an  Idea  of  the  Infinitely 
little  ?"  "  Of  course  I  can,"  replied  her  majesty ;  "  what  a 
superfluoas  question  to  ask  the  wife  of  Frederic  1. !  " 

The  dreary  custom  of  hanging  the  rooms  of  royal  per- 

^  Baron  de  Polnitz's  Memoirs. 

^  Memoirs  of  Brandenburg,  by  Frederic  the  Great. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVER. 


397 


sonages  with  black  cloth  In  case  of  death,  still  continued  to 
that  period;  It  was  not  likely  to  cheer  hearts  oppressed  with 
grief.  All  the  dwelling-rooms  of  the  Electress  Sophia  at 
the  castle-palace  of  Hanover  were  muffled  in  this  dolorous 
covering.  Leibnitz  wrote  soon  after  :  ^'  God  give  us  all  more 
firmness ;  for  the  Electress  and  the  princes  are  quite  dispir- 
ited.'^  The  consternation  the  death  of  the  Queen  of  Prussia 
occasioned  at  the  courts  of  Hanover  and  Berlin  Is  reflected 
in  the  letters  of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  who  writes  to  the 
Ehinegravlne  :  I  am  quite  startled  at  the  sad  news  I  have 
from  my  aunt,  as  well  as  your  letters  of  the  3d  of  Feb- 
ruary, which  I  received  this  morning.  Such  an  awful  loss 
— the  death  of  the  Queen  of  Prussia  !  I  cannot  express, 
dear  Louise,  how  I  am  grieved  from  the  depths  of  my  soul. 
And  I  am  greatly  anxious  for  my  aunt  the  Electress;  I 
have  no  rest  for  the  thought  of  all  she  suffers.  My  eyes 
ache  so  that  I  can  hardly  open  them.  Until  now  I  have 
never  ceased  from  weeping." 

Sophia  either  could  not  or  would  not  leave  the  castle  at 
Hanover,  where  the  remains  of  her  lost  daughter  were  lying 
in  state  previously  to  removal  to  Berlin.  Again  her  niece 
writes  from  Versailles  :^ I  cannot  understand  why  my  aunt, 
after  the  fatal  event,  was  left  In  the  same  house.  It  is  quite 
frightful  to  remain  In  the  same  house  with  a  corpse.  Thus 
the  grief  Is  renewed  every  moment.  Ten  nights,  at  least, 
elapsed  before  I  could  find  rest.  Until  I  heard  of  her 
amendment,  I  was  continually  anxious  for  my  aunt  the 
Electress.  Tell  my  aunt,  dear  Amellse,  It  Is  far  better  to 
let  her  tears  flow  freely  ;  their  suppression  will  only  destroy 
her  health."  The  date  of  this  letter  Is  as  late  as  March  5, 
when  Sophia  was  but  just  convalescent,  and  had  not  yet 
arrived  at  the  relief  of  weeping  freely  for  her  Irreparable  loss. 
The  grand  funeral  procession  of  the  Queen  of  Prussia  left 
Hanover  for  Berlin  February  9th  ;  but  we  must  refer  the 
reader  to  the  curious  narrative  of  the  ceremonial  preserved 
by  the  pen  of  Leibnitz.  That  true  friend  had  grieved  much 
for  the  loss  of  his  pupil,  and  his  anxieties  were  now  great 
concerning  her  mother,  who  was  suffering  under  the  most 

^  Letter  to  the  Rhinegravine  Amelise,  Feb.  24,  1705. — Stutgard  Collection. 


398 


SOPHIA.  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


acute  afflictions  that  had  ever  befallen  her  in  mind  or 
body. 

A  distant  kinswoman  of  the  house  of  Brandenburg, 
Caroline  of  Anspach.  the //rofe'^^e'^  of  the  deceased  Queen, 
was  by  her  death  thrown  on  the  protection  of  the  bereaved 
Electress  Sophia.  Caroline  was  daughter  of  John  Ferdi- 
nand, Margrave  of  Braudenburg-Anspach.  She  was  bora 
in  16S1-2,  March  1,  of  his  second  wife,  a  princess  of  Saxe- 
Eisenach.  At  six  years  of  age,  Caroline,  having  been  left 
an  orphan,  was  adopted  by  the  great  Elector  Frederic- 
"William.  and  brought  up  at  the  Court  of  Brandenburg 
When  Sophia  Charlotte  married  Frederic,  afterwards  King 
of  Prussia,  she  received  the  little  Caroline  into  her  care, 
educated  her,  and  bequeathed  her  at  her  death  to  her 
mother  the  Electress  Sophia.  Caroline,  who  was  very 
handsome,  stately  in  figure,  clever  in  attainment,  and 
fascinating  in  manner,  and  was  withal  of  the  steady  age 
of  twenty-three,  soon  won  the  heart  of  the  aged  Electress,! 
who  not  only  treated  her  with  maternal  tenderness,  but  gave 
her  high  place  at  the  Court  of  Hanover,  near  her  own  person. 
A  more  exalted  position  courted  the  acceptance  of  Caro- 
line. Charles  of  Austria  (afterwards  Emperor  Charles  VL) 
offered  to  marry  her,  if  she  would  declare  herself  Roman 
Catholic.  She  refused  the  chance  of  becoming  Empress 
on  those  terms.  The  Prince  Elector  of  Hanover  was  so 
exceedingly  struck  with  the  sacritice  that  he  offered  his 
cousin  his  hand,  although  she  was  utterly  without  dower, 
and  two  years  older  than  himself.  They  married  without 
great  pomp  at  Herenhausen,  August  22,  1705.  Caroline 
bore  an  heir  to  Hanover  and  Great  Britain  the  year  after, 
who  was  brought  up  on  the  knees  of  Sophia,  and  was  the 
doating-piece  of  his  grandfather,  the  Elector  George.  This 
Prince  was  Frederic  the  good-natured  Prince  of  Wales, 
afterwards  father  to  our  George  III. 

The  alliance  between  the  houses  of  Brunswick  and  Bran- 
denburg was  destined  to  be  knit  still  closer  by  the  marriage 
between  the  Prince -Pioyal  of  Prussia,  Frederic -^A'illiamj 


Lord  Hervey's  Memoirs. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


399 


and  his  cousin-german,  the  only  daughter  of  the  Elector 
George  and  the  hapless  prisoner  at  Ahlden.  This  child,  who 
had  not  seen  her  mother  since  her  eighth  year,  had  been 
brought  up  by  her  grandmother  at  Herenhausen.  She  is 
occasionally  mentioned  in  the  correspondence  of  the  Sophias 
with  Leibnitz  as  "  our  little  Princess/'  Her  name,  like 
her  poor  mother's,  was  Sophia  Dorothea.  Not  a  year 
had  elapsed  from  her  good  aunt  of  Prussia's  death,  when 
Frederic  I.  demanded  her  of  her  grandmother  in  these 
words  : — 

Frederic  L,  King  of  Prussia,  to  the  Electress  Sophia  of 
Hanover. 

'^January  16,  1706.^ 
"  My  Cousin, — As  I  have  felt  myself  so  happy  in  my  marriage  with  the 
late  Queen  my  dear  and  incomparable  wife,  I  think  of  forming  a  similar 
one  between  the  Prince-Royal,  my  son,  and  the  daughter  of  the  Elector  of 
Brunswick,  my  brother  ;  and  my  visit  to  this  place  has  given  me  an  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  and  informing  myself  of  the  merits  and  virtues  of  this 
princess,  and  has  entirely  confirmed  me  in  this  intention.  But  as  it  is 
necessary  for  your  Highness's  consent  as  grandmother,  I  come  to  demand 
it  of  you,  not  doubting  that  you  will  give  it  with  pleasure.  I  pray  to  God, 
as  if  for  myself,  that  you  may  enjoy  long  years  of  prosperity,  which  so 
happy  an  alliance  will  infallibly  promote. — I  assure  you  that  I  am  always 
your  Highness's  good  cousin, 

"  Frederic  Pt." 

The  ceremonial  of  betrothal  took  place  soon  after  at 
Herenhausen,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Electress,  an 
early  day  being  then  named  for  the  marriage.  The  Elec- 
tress Sophia  brought  her  granddaughter  from  Heren- 
hausen the  day  before  the  marriage^  to  the  castle  of 
Hanover,  and  installed  her  in  the  apartments  which  had 
pertained  to  her  sister-in-law,  the  late  Queen  of  Denmark, 
where  her  bridal  toilette  was  to  be  performed.  At  six 
o'clock  next  morning  she  received  the  Prussian  embassy, 
and  at  seven  the  state  visits  of  the  whole  of  her  family,  the 
Electress  Sophia  at  their  head.  Then  her  procession  was 
formed,  and  proceeded  to  the  great  saloon  of  the  castle, 
where  an  altar  was  erected.  The  Court  Marshal  led  the 
Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  to  the  right  side  of  the  altar,  and 


1  Ilten. 


Leibnitz. 


400 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOYER. 


the  Princess  was  conducted  to  the  left :  after  the  ceremony 
the  whole  court  defiled  into  the  dining-room.  The  Princess- 
bride  danced  with  her  spouse,  then  with  his  father,  and 
then  with  her  own  brother.  What  dances  they  could  have 
performed,  passes  modern  comprehension  ;  for  the  most 
notable  proceeding  of  the  whole  ceremony  is,  that  as  the 
bride  danced,  the  young  ladies  who  bore  her  train  danced 
too,  still  bearing  it,  and  following  all  her  motions.  Such 
manoeuvring  would  not  have  been  difficult  or  inelegant  in 
the  stately  promenade  called  the  Polonaise,  or  taper  dance, 
nor  would  they  have  been  impossible  in  the  minuet ;  but  in 
the  waltz,  or  in  the  cotillon,  or  great  quadrille,  the  train- 
bearers  and  their  Princess  must  have  been  dangerously 
in  each  other's  way. 

Under  the  eager  influence  of  her  granddaughter-in-law, 
Caroline  of  Anspach-Brandenburg,  Sophia  overcame  the 
scruples  that  had  hitherto  prevented  her  from  publicly 
accepting  the  reversion  of  the  crown  of  England.  As  to 
that  of  Scotland,  she  never  had  the  offer  of  it.  The  Scotch 
Parliament  or  Convention  had  thrown  out  the  bill  for  the 
Hanoverian  succession,  and  the  streets  of  Edinburgh  rang 
with  political  songs  against  her,  the  refrain  of  which  was, — 

"  The  Lutheran  dame  shall  begone  ! " 

So  little  was  North  Britain  aware  of  the  religion  professed 
by  the  lady  they  were  rejecting. 

The  great  event  called  the  Union  of  England  and  Scot- 
land was  carried  in  order  to  obviate  the  terrible  national 
disaster  of  South  and  North  Britain  being  once  more 
separated  into  two  Inimical  sovereignties — one  ruled  by 
Sophia  or  her  son,  and  the  other  by  the  representative  of 
the  Stuarts.  The  final  settlement  of  the  United  Kingdoms 
by  the  first  Parliament  held  of  Great  Britain  took  place  in 
the  session  of  1707;  and  Lord  Halifax  was,  with  other 
nobles,  commissioned  to  announce  to  her  at  Hanover  its 
recognition  of  Sophia  as  heiress  of  the  British  throne.  The 
ceremonial  was  opened  in  a  formal  speech  in  the  great 
saloon  of  the  castle-palace  at  Hanover.  Just  as  the  reply  of 


SOPHlAj  ELEGTRESS  OF  IIANOYER. 


401 


the  Electress  was  expected,  the  English  ambassadors  were 
astonished  to  see  her  run  from  her  place  to  a  corner  of  the 
room,  where  she  remained  until  the  whole  was  over.  Lord 
Halifax,  by  dint  of  questioning  her  officers,  discovered 
the  reason  of  this  strange  freak.  She  had  caught  a  glance 
of  a  fine  portrait  of  James  II.,  and  her  conscience  feeling 
uneasy,  she  had  placed  herself  where  she  could  not  see  the 
likeness  of  her  old  friend  and  relative  while  she  was  in- 
stalled as  successor  to  his  throne.-^ 

Death  had  made  great  havoc  among  Sophia's  contempora- 
ries and  correspondents.  Leibnitz  and  her  niece  of  Orleans 
were  all  that  remained.  Generally,  Sophia  and  the  Duchess 
of  Orleans  wrote  to  each  other  every  post ;  yet  posts,  we 
must  recollect,  ran  not  often  and  quick,  as  they  do  in  these 
days.  Once  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  writes  to  Sophia,  "  If  we 
were  acquainted  with  persons  who  are  so  eager  to  read  our 
letters,  we  would  gladly  send  them  copies,  if  they  would  not 
detain  them  so  long.''  It  was  no  trifle  to  decipher  epistles 
written  in  German,  and  in  the  German  character  ;  and  the 
high  corresponding  ladies  ought  to  have  considered  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  poor  clerks  on  secret  service.  "  I  have  just 
received  your  letter  of  the  9th  instant,"  writes  the  Duchess 
of  Orleans  twenty  days  afterwards.  "  It  is  quite  a  shame 
how  long  they  keep  our  letters  :  in  the  times  of  M.  Louvois 
we  know  they  always  read  them  as  well  as  now,  but  they 
nevertheless  delivered  them  in  decent  time.  Torcy  keeps 
them  an  uncommonly  long  time,  and  I  feel  it  severely  now, 
I  am  so  anxious  about  ray  aunt.''  To  Sophia  herself  she 
says :  "  I  cannot  understand  how  your  Liebden  can  write 
in  bed  ;  that  must  be  rather  tiresome  for  the  loins.  Yet 
all  gives  me  so  much  pleasure  that  is  written  by  your  own 
hand.  I  am  astonished  that  his  Liebden  the  Elector  has 
killed  but  fifty  boars,  as  this  year  the  acorns  have  been  so 
very  plentiful.  In  Germany  I  never  heard  of  any  boar- 
chase  without  one  or  more  peasants  being  hurt  or  killed. 
It  was  very  generous  of  the  Elector  to  give  to  the  maimed 
peasant  forty  dollars — a  great  present  for  such  a  person. 

^  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montague  ;  last  published  letters. 
VOL.  VIII.  2  G 


9 

402  SOPHIA,  ELECTBESS  OF  HANOVER. 


As  for  news,  I  must  tell  you  that  Gourville  is  still  living, 
but  he  is  quite  childish.  I  thank  you  for  the  receipt  of 
sour-kraut  with  pike  you  have  sent  me.  I  would  have 
liked  it  as  it  is  prepared  usually,  without  fish.  I  can  eat 
sour-kraut  well,  for  I  have  still  a  good  appetite.'^ 

To  Louise  the  Rhinegravine  she  says :  "  My  aunt  gives 
me  an  account  of  the  comedy  with  the  children  of  the 
Countess  Platen ;  I  hope  they  will  become  more  honour- 
able than  their  father  is,  whom  I  cannot  esteem.  This 
morning  I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  two  packets  at 
once  from  my  aunt.  It  is  not  enough  that  they  kept  the 
first  so  long,  and  this  was  done  probably  at  Hanover  ;  but 
they  also  played  a  clumsy  trick  with  them,  exchanging  two 
pages  of  the  first  letter  with  one  of  the  other.  Such  could 
only  have  been  done  by  a  drunkard,  and  so  I  imagine  it 
was  the  deed  of  the  Count  de  Platen,  who  may  read  his 
part  in  this  letter  of  mine,  if  he  likes.'' 

"  Death,"  says  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  to  her  aunt  Sophia 
— "  death  is  an  awful  expedient  to  find  tranquillity  ;  your 
Llebden  has  no  reproach  to  make  to  yourself  with  regard 
to  my  position.  You  did  all  you  could  to  make  me  happy, 
and  therefore  I  am  as  much  indebted  to  your  kindness  as 
if  you  had  made  me  really  happy." ^  Perhaps,  from  this 
rather  touching  comment  on  her  own  destiny,  may  be 
gathered  that  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  owed  her  most  un- 
enviable distinction  as  the  second  lady  In  France  to  some 
negotiation  of  her  aunt  Sophia. 

The  messages  sent  concerning  the  sister  of  Sophia,  the 
Abbess  of  Maublsson,  are  exceedingly  interesting,  and  show 
her  at  a  great  age  still  pursuing  her  artistlcal  tastes.^  "  I 
visited  my  aunt,  the  Abbess  of  Maublsson.  She  is  well ; 
better-humoured,  more  lively,  sees,  hears,  and  walks  better 
than  I  do.  She  is  now  painting  a  beautiful  piece  for  our 
dear  Electress  of  Hanover.  It  is  a  copy  of  the  "  Golden 
Calf,"  by  Poussin.  She  is  adored  by  her  cloister ;  she  leads 
a  very  strict  as  well  as  a  very  quiet  life.  She  never  tastes 
meat  except  in  illness,  sleeps  upon  mattresses  as  hard  as  a 
stone,  and  rises  at  midnight  to  the  convent  prayers.  She 
1  Stutgard  Collection  of  Letters  of  Duchess  of  Orleans.  ^  Ibid. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


403 


has  no  chairs  but  straw  ones  in  her  room.  I  hope  my 
aunt,  the  Electress,  will  be  like  her  sister  [the  Princess- 
Abbess  of  Maubisson],  who  this  April  is  turned  of  eighty, 
and  still  is  able  to  read  the  smallest  print  without  spectacles, 
has  all  her  teeth  complete,  walks  better  than  myself,  is 
always  cheerful,  and  quite  popierlich^^  like  my  father,  the 
Elector  Palatine,  when  he  was  in  a  good  humour/' 

Since  the  domination  of  Caroline  of  Anspach,  the  English 
had  thronged  the  Court  of  Hanover  more  than  ever.  One  of 
them,  Mr  Uvedale  Price,  has  left  a  MS.  letter  of  his  observa- 
tions there  in  1710  :  "  The  Princess  Sophia  is  fourscore  and 
one,  and  bears  her  age  so  well  that  she  will  outwalk  her  maids 
of  honour  ;  has  a  very  good  set  of  teeth,  and  not  a  wrinkle  in 
her  face,  and  walks  as  uprightly  as  I  can ;  has  a  great  deal 
of  wit,  is  always  pleasant  and  familiar,  loves  the  English, 
and  is  very  civil  to  them,  though  she  receives  all  nations 
agreeably,  and  can  entertain  each  in  his  own  language ;  for 
she  speaks  seven  tongues  to  perfection/'  Then  follow  de- 
scriptive portraits  of  her  family.  The  Elector  is  middle- 
sized  ''  [Fie !  five  feet  and  one  inch  middle-sized  in  an 
Englishman's  eyes],  "  well-built,  and  seems  to  be  of  a  very 
strong  constitution.  He  shows  the  greatness  of  his  birth  by 
the  nobleness  of  his  mien,  which  is  mistaken  by  a  great 
many  for  pride,  though  I  must  own  he  does  not  care  for 
entering  into  conversation  with  a  new  face,  nor  does  he 
affect  the  formality  of  making  a  low  bow.  When  he  has  begun 
to  discourse,  he  shows  a  great  deal  of  judgment,  a  great 
apprehension,  and  what  the  poets  call  humour.  He  loves  a 
man  that  will  take  the  liberty  to  discourse  with  him,  and 
will  show  him  marks  of  distinction.  He  is  very  vigilant  in 
his  affairs,  increasing  his  treasure  without  oppressing  his 
people ;  is  charitable  and  compassionate,  and  sets  an  admi- 
rable example  by  the  wise  conduct  which  he  hath  shown 
both  in  peace  and  war.  His  son,  the  Prince  Elector,  is 
about  twenty-one  years  of  age,  very  gay,  full  of  fire,  and 
perfectly  well-bred.  He  loves  music,  but  his  greatest  in- 
clination is  for  war.  He  distinguished  himself  extraordin- 
arily at  the  battle  of  Oudenarde,  where  he  endeavoured 

Full  of  fun. 


404 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOTER. 


to  find  the  Pretender,  and  put  an  end  to  his  small  hopes. 
He  seems  to  be  very  good-humoured,  though  'tis  hard  to 
judge  of  a  son  in  his  father's  company.  His  lady,  the 
Princess,  is  so  charming  in  her  person,  so  wonderful[ly] 
obh'ging  in  her  conversation,  that  all  men,  if  they  durst 
confess  it,  must  own  that  she  wins  their  hearts.  She  has 
a  son  and  daughter,  which  are  fine  lively  children.  Here 
are  a  great  many  second-rate  beauties,  most  of  them  paints, 
and  they  dress  their  heads  as  we  do  [meaning  "  as  our 
English  ladles  do;'^  for  the  writer  is  a  man,  and  dressed 
his  head  in  a  tie  or  bob  wig].  Here  is  no  great  magnifi- 
cence, but  everything  is  decent  and  agreeable.  The  Elector 
has  a  brother  who  deserves  very  well  to  be  heir  to  a  crown, 
for  he  has  all  the  good  quality s  we  can  wish  for  in  a  prince; 
he  is  called  Duke  Ernestus.  It's  with  the  greatest  joy 
imaginable  I  see  this  illustrious  family,  for  I  consider  them 
born  to  be  so  many  blessings  to  our  nation/'  ^ 

Such  were  the  portraits  of  the  whole  electoral  family, 
drawn  and  tinted  couleur  de  rose  by  the  flattering  hand  of 
a  would-be  courtier,  anxious  to  look  out  for  a  little  good 
on  his  own  account,  and  make  signals  to  his  countrymen 
concerning  the  manner  and  whereabouts  of  the  rising  sun 
and  all  surrounding  planets.  Yet  a  kindred  hand  does  not 
hold  quite  so  flattering  a  pencil,  when  sketching  George  T. 
Her  Eoyal  Highness  of  Orleans  says,  He  is  not  a  better 
man  than  Oncle,^  and  not  near  so  agreeable.  I  cannot 
wonder  my  aunt  says  that  Hanover  is  not  found  plea- 
sant, as  in  former  times.  The  [Elector  George  I.]  is  so 
dry  and  cold  that  he  changes  us  all  to  ice  about  him. 
His  father  [Ernest  Auguste]  and  the  Duke  of  Zelle  were 
quite  different.  It  will  be  still  worse  when  the  Electoral 
Prince  [George  II.]  comes  in  power,  for  he  really  does  not 
know  what  princely  behaviour  is,  as  I  occasionally  find 
in  all  his  doings.  I  think  my  aunt  likes  the  Electoral 
Princess  better  than  her  own  grandson  ;  and  she  is  right, 
for  he  lives  as  if  he  had  not  the  honour  of  being  her 

1  Kennet  MS.,  Brit.  Mus. ;  Uvedale  Price,  MS.  letter,  dated  from  M. 
Chappareaii's  house  in  Hanover,  January  21,  1710. 
^  The  late  Elector,  Ernest  Auguste. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVEE. 


405 


descendant.^  Hanover  and  Hercnliausen  have  now  be- 
come quite  a  little  England,  all  these  being  full  of  Eng- 
lish visitors.^'  I  thank  my  aunt  for  the  portrait  of  the  little 
prince.  He  is  as  like  his  grandfather,  George  William, 
Duke  of  Zelle,  as  two  drops  of  water  are  to  one  another ; 
may  he  be  like  him  in  kindness/'^  The  Duchess  here  speaks 
of  Frederic,  afterwards  Prince  of  Wales,  great-grandson 
to  Sophia,  who  had  a  numerous  family  of  infant  great- 
grandchildren round  her. 

The  severest  remarks  on  George  the  Elector  from  her 
pen  are,  however,  where  she  brings  to  memory  an  interview 
she  had  with  him  when  he  paid  a  visit  to  Paris,  just  before 
the  terrible  European  war  that  commenced  with  the  reign 
of  Queen  Anne.  ^'He  is  a  great  drinker,"  she  writes  from 
Versailles ;  "  and  I  noticed  it  full  well  when  he  was  here. 
In  spite  of  the  kindness  I  showed  him,  he  would  neither 
trust  me,  nor  speak  openly  to  me.  I  had  forcibly  to  extract 
every  word  from  him,  which  is  a  very  unpleasant  process. 
His  greatest  fault  consists,  however,  in  his  behaviour  to  his 
mother,  to  whom  he  owes  every  respect.  He  is  mistrustful, 
haughty,  and  addicted  to  avarice.  I  often  see  this  in  my 
aunt's  letters ;  although  she  does  not  clearly  mention  it, 
still  she  is  discontented  with  him,  for  the  Elector  is  not 
good-tempered,  as  may  be  seen  in  his  intercourse  with  his 
brothers.'' 

Leibnitz  remained  away  from  Hanover  until  the  year 
1711  ;  notwithstanding  his  friendship  for  the  Electress,  he 
did  not  like  the  service  of  the  Elector  George :  this  letter, 
written  to  him  by  Sophia,  had  the  effect  of  bringing  him 
home  : — 

The  Electress  to  Leibnitz. 

Hanover,  lltli  March  1711. 
"  I  have  received  your  letter  from  Brunswick,  which  I  read  to  the 
Elector.    It  will  be  as  well  if  you  write  direct  to  him,  for  he  laughed  at 
the  fall  you  had,  and  at  preferring  being  at  Berlin  to  this  place.    It  is  not 
the  feet  one  esteems  in  you,  but  the  head.    But  we  are  very  glad  that 


^  Letters  of  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  Duchess  of  Orleans,  in  the  library  at 
Stutgard,  vol.  vi.,  original  German. 

2  Ibid.  3  Ibid.   The  Duke  of  Zelle  was  just  dead. 


406 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


the  one  which  supports  the  other  is  now  cured,  as  the  Princess-Royal  ^  in- 
forms us  ;  and  perhaps  the  fall  you  had  serves  a  little  to  conceal  the  gout 
which  keeps  you  in  bed.  Madame  Sartot  tells  me  that  the  war  in  Hildes- 
heim  will  soon  be  terminated.  We  know  nothing  of  it  here.  The  people 
entered  Peyne  and  Hildesheim  without  striking  a  blow  ;  and  the  citizens 
are  impatient  at  not  being  called  upon  to  give  their  oath  to  the  Elector. 
They  are  delighted  that  he  is  able  to  do  them  justice.  It  is  true  that  the 
King  of  Prussia  has  offered  to  do  justice  to  the  canons,  but  what  the 
house  of  Brunswick  can  do  herself  does  not  require  a  third.  However,  it 
appears  that  his  Majesty  is  not  satisfied,  and  thinks  you  are  acting  as  a  spy 
at  Berlin,  although  we  are  not  at  all  curious  about  other  people's  affairs. 

The  Duchess  of  Orleans  wishes  to  have  the  medals  which  you  will 
find  marked  on  the  paper  I  send  you.  I  beg  you  to  inquire  if  the  King's 
antiquary  knows  them ;  and  if  they  are  to  be  met  with,  I  shall  be  delighted 
to  pay  for  them,  and  to  send  them  to  her.  S.'* 

The  idea  of  Frederic  I.  of  Prussia  that  the  learned  Leib- 
nitz was  a  spy  at  Berlin  must  have  been  greatly  relished 
by  Sophia,  who  had  long  wished  his  return.  But  Leibnitz, 
for  some  reasons  best  known  to  himself,  preferred  the  new 
capital  of  the  new  kingdom  of  Prussia  as  an  abiding-place ; 
yet  he  did  return  to  Hanover  some  time  before  the  death 
of  his  illustrious  patroness.  When  there,  Leibnitz  was 
directed,  in  1712,  by  the  Elector  of  Hanover  (George  1.) 
and  Sophia,  to  complete  a  treatise  for  the  purpose  of  recon- 
ciling the  Church  of  England  with  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion.  Many  allusions  to  this  work  are  indisputably  to  be 
found  in  Sophia's  correspondence  with  Leibnitz  from  1701. 
It  was  never  promulgated,  because  the  Elector  of  Hanover, 
on  inquiry,  found  the  majority  of  their  political  friends  in 
Great  Britain  were  opposed  to  any  such  tendency.^ 

Czar  Peter  paid  a  final  visit  to  his  old  friend  in  March 
1713  ;  he  could  have  scarcely  expected  to  find  her  in  health 
and  spirits  as  when  her  daughter  described  her  as  "  my 

^  Of  Prussia,  the  daughter  of  George,  Elector  of  Hanover,  and  the  un- 
fortunate Sophia  Dorothea. 

2  Vie  de  Leibnitz,  par  Neufville,  1724.  This  MS.  of  Leibnitz  was  found 
among  his  papers,  and  published  in  1803  by  an  emigrant  French  Catholic 
priest,  who,  perfectly  ignorant  of  Leibnitz's  court  functions  as  literary 
factotum  to  the  Hanoverian  Government,  writing  to  order  on  any  subject 
given  him  by  his  master  or  mistress,  from  the  arrangement  of  a  supper  or 
funeral,  to  theology  and  history,  very  innocently  commends  Leibnitz's 
almost  Catholicity,  and  bewails  the  calumnies  which  pursued  him  as  an 
atheist.  Some  account  of  it  will  be  found  in  an  early  number  of  Revue  den 
deux  Blondes  ;  yet  the  editor  is  ignorant  of  Leibnitz'  reasons  for  writing  it. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER.  407 


lively  mother/'  now  leading  off  dances — the  Russian  ma0i^rZ;a, 
we  suppose — with  him  and  Le  Fort,  and  now  deep  in  dis- 
cussion with  them  on  philosophic  and  historical  questions. 
Yet  unbent  by  time,  uninjured  by  indulgence  or  excess, 
the  Electress  Sophia,  in  her  eighty-third  year,  was  as  ready 
to  be  led  out  by  the  gigantic  Czar  in  the  stately  Polonaise, 
as  ever.  Goldsmith  declares  that  French  women  can  ''frisk 
beneath  the  burden  of  fourscore,''  but  Sophia  could  dance 
with  three  years  added  to  that  burden. 

The  Elector  George  went  from  Hanover  to  Weisen  to 
meet  and  escort  the  Czar  to  his  mother's  court.  Peter  was 
accompanied  by  his  Chancellor,  Golofkin,  two  aides-de-camp, 
and  thirty  Muscovite  guards ;  he  was  travelling  on  a  litter, 
swung  like  a  palanquin  on  poles  borne  by  two  horses,  one  be- 
hind and  one  before,  as  English  queens  went  on  progress  in 
the  middle  ages;  the  horses  were  driven  along  by  two  rough- 
looking  fellows.  His  guards  wore  hats  sunk  down  over  their 
ears ;  their  sabres,  slung  round  them  without  sheaths,  were 
rusty ;  they  wore  grey  uniforms  edged  with  red ;  and  scamp- 
ered pell-mell  together,  without  any  attempt  at  orderly  pro- 
gress. The  Czar  arrived  amidst  the  roar  of  a  hundred-cannon 
salute.  He  alighted  from  his  litter,  and  went  directly  to 
the  apartments  of  the  Electress  Sophia,  without  any  of  the 
furtive  arrangements  occasioned  by  his  bashfulness,  which 
had  so  much  amused  her  and  her  daughter  in  days  long  gone 
by.  He  supped  in  her  apartment,  and  behaved  like  any 
other  gentleman  until  he  entered  his  sleeping  apartment, 
when  he  flatly  refused  to  lie  down  in  the  splendid  bed  pre- 
pared for  him,  as  he  said  "  he  might  spoil  it,''  and  com- 
manded his  guards  to  spread  his  camp-mattresses  on  the 
floor,  on  which  he  slept  soundly  till  seven  the  next  morning, 
when  he  called  for  "  tea,"  and  drank  it  directly.  The  meal 
he  considered  breakfast  he  ate  at  ten  in  the  morning ;  he 
then  looked  at  the  court  chapel,  and  inspected  "  the  holy 
relics.''  It  seems  the  Brunswickers  had  retained  relics 
in  the  Lutheran  chapel.  "  At  dinner  tabourets  were  set 
round  the  table  covered  with  crimson  velvet ;  no  fauteuils 
were  brought  forward — he  was  served  on  gold  plates  and 
dishes.    After  dinner  he  conferred  with  the  Electress  until 


4 


408  SOPHIA,  ELECTKESS  OF  HANOVEK. 

it  was  time  to  go  to  her  opera  at  Herenhausen,  and  led 
lier  to  her  box.  A  masquerade  succeeded  the  operatic  per- 
formance, when  Czar  Peter  put  on  a  mask,  and  led  off  the 
Polonaise  with  the  Electress  Sophia  as  his  partner. 

The  Polonaise  is  a  stately  but  peculiar  dance ;  it  marked 
etiquette  and  precedence  in  the  middle  ages.  Indivi- 
duals, of  whatsoever  rank  they  might  be  in  the  royal 
court  or  baronial  hall,  joined  in  it  on  festal  days  or  times 
of  high  ceremonial,  yet  they  were  rigorously  kept  in  their 
own  places  and  degrees.  It  was  a  promenade  round  a 
great  hall  to  spirited  martial  music.  The  king,  kaiser, 
or  emperor,  led  the  queen  or  empress,  or  the  lady  next  to 
his  rank,  each  carrying  a  long  lighted  taper  in  one  hand, 
while  the  other  was  locked  in  that  of  the  partner.  The 
next  pair  in  rank  followed,  keeping  the  same  step,  and 
likewise  bearing  their  tapers ;  and  so,  in  gradation  of  rank, 
each  couple  paired  off  behind  their  superiors  according  to 
the  dignity  of  their  functions,  until  the  court-fools  and 
jesters,  and,  last  of  all,  the  little  absurd  dwarfs,  mopping 
and  mowing,  brought  up  the  rear  of  the  long  lighted  pro- 
cession. It  moved  round  and  round  some  vast  apart- 
ment, until  there  was  danger  of  the  tapers  burning  the 
dancers'  fingers,  when  they  threw  the  candle-ends  into  the 
fireplace  as  they  passed  it,  and  whirled  off  into  the  coranto 
or  waltz,  but  all  in  perfect  order.i  What  with  the  moving 
lights  and  varied  costumes  of  ofBce,  the  taper-dance  was 
one  of  the  finest  pictorial  tableaux  that  could  be  presented 
by  historical  personages.  Czar  Peter  and  the  Electress 
Sophia  finished  their  Polonaise  by  nine  o'clock,  when  he 
supped  in  his  own  apartment.  Next  day,  March  3,  all  was 
repeated  precisely  in  the  same  course,  excepting  that,  after 
the  masquerade,  Czar  Peter  took  leave  of  the  Electress,  as 
he  announced  his  intention  of  departing  from  Hanover  at 
six  on  the  following  morning.  The  Electress  and  all  her 
court  escorted  him  to  his  apartments. 

*  This  historical  dance  of  his  native  country  was  minutely  described  to 
us  by  our  late  learned  and  lamented  friend,  Count  Valerian  Krasinfski, 
whose  knowledge  of  historical  costume  was  surpassed  by  few  persons. 
The  taper-dance  is  described  by  Casanova  in  his  Memoirs  of  the  Last 
Century.''  The  promenade  of  a  few  steps  that  sometimes  precedes  waltzing 
is  supposed  to  be  connected  with  it. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


409 


If  Sophia  was  contented  to  see  her  own  portrait  go  forth 
to  the  world  after  the  loss  of  beauty  and  the  acquisition  of 
age,  she  was  by  no  means  pleased  with  the  thought  that 
her  philosopher  and  friend  Leibnitz  should  be  thus  repre- 
sented In  the  work  of  some  unskilful  artist,  which  she  thus 
Indignantly  criticises :  Your  portrait  is  worth  nothing ;  he 
has  drawn  you  with  a  great  drunken  nose,  and  the  whole 
appears  very  heavy/' i 

Caroline,  the  Electoral  Princess,  was  now  looked  up  to  as 
likely  to  become  the  presiding  star  of  European  literature. 
Unfortunately,  most  of  the  men  of  genius  In  England  were 
in  the  Jacobite  Interest,  although  Gay  the  poet  resided  for 
some  months  as  attache  to  the  envoy  from  England  to 
Hanover.  Caroline  asked  Gay  for  one  of  his  publications  : 
he  had  not  one  to  present  to  her  Highness.  "  Is  he  not  a 
true  poet/'  asked  Arbuthnot  of  Swift,  who  had  not  one 
of  his  own  books  to  give  to  the  Princess  that  asked  for 
one?"' 

An  attack  of  illness,  which  occurred  November  17,  1713, 
alarmed  all  the  friends  of  the  Electress.  One  of  her  house- 
hold, M.  Coch,. wrote  to  Leibnitz  from  Wetzlar:  ''A  few 
days  before  my  departure,  the  Electress  got  an  Illness 
which  made  us  all  anxious  for  her  precious  life ;  It  was 
a  species  of  St  Antony's  fire,  to  which  you  know  she  is 
subject.  She  recovered,  however,  soon  enough  to  save 
the  post,  by  writing  a  long  letter  with  her  own  hand  to 
Madame  In  France.  The  Elector  of  Hanover,  her  son, 
could  not  help  remarking  that  his  mother  ought  to  attend 
better  to  her  diet,  which  Is  only  regulated  by  her  appetite 
— she  chiefly  Infringing  medical  rules  by  eating  fruit. 
The  Electress  replied  calmly,  '  How,  my  son,  do  you  find 
It  an  extraordinary  case  for  an  old  woman  of  eighty-three 
years  to  fall  111?  You  ought  to  think  It  still  more  extra- 
ordinary to  see  me  still  alive,  and  usually  enjoying  such 
good  health.'  And,  truly,  I  think  she  will  not  give  up  yet." 
The  close  of  the  year  of  1713  again  brought  some  symptoms 
of  Interruption  In  the  usual  bright  health  and  spirits  of  the 
Electress  Sophia.    She  surprised  those  around  her  by  ex- 

1  Ilten,  1713.  2  Arbuthnot  to  Swift,  August  1713. 


410 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


pressing  wishes  to  go  to  England,  her  indifference  to  that 
crown  having  always  been  a  marked  feature  in  her  previous 
life.  She  now  and  then  said  she  wished  to  go  there,  "  to  go 
home ;  she  wanted  to  go  home.''  Singular  as  these  expres- 
sions were — for  Sophia  had  never  been  in  England — yet 
they  are  capable  of  explanation.  The  longing  desire  of 
her  mother,  Ehzabeth  queen  of  Bohemia,  to  return  home 
to  England  at  the  close  of  her  life  was  naturally  expressed 
in  these  words;  and  when  intellect  a  little  wavered,  So- 
phia repeated  them. 

The  ambitious  views  of  Caroline  of  Anspach,  and  her 
consort,  the  Electoral  Prince,  might  also  perhaps  have  ex- 
cited the  mind  of  the  aged  Electress  on  the  subject  of  the 
English  succession.  The  Electoral  Prince  and  his  aspiring 
spouse  had  eagerly  given  ear  to  their  numerous  English 
courtiers  of  the  Whig  party,  who  proposed  introducing  a 
motion  in  the  English  Parliament  inviting  the  Prince  to 
take  his  place  as  Duke  of  Cambridge  in  the  House  of  Peers, 
and  be  ready  to  look  after  his  own  interests  on  the  expected 
demise  of  Queen  Anne ;  for  the  fiat  had  evidently  gone  forth, 
and  the  death  of  that  sovereign  was  expected  speedily. 

Queen  Anne,  who  equally  dreaded  the  approach  of  her 
expatriated  brother  and  his  German  rival,  appealed  to  the 
good  sense  and  humanity  of  her  aged  relative  by  the  fol- 
lowing letter : —  ^ 

Queen  Anne  to  the  Princess  Sophia,  Dowager  Electress 
OF  Brunswick. 

'^St  James's,  May  19,  1714. 
"  Madame,  Sister,  Aunt, — SiDce  the  right  of  succession  to  my  kingdoms 
has  been  declared  to  belong  to  you  and  your  family,  there  have  always 
been  disaffected  persons  who,  for  private  views  of  their  own  interest,  have 
entered  into  measures  to  fix  a  prince  of  your  blood  in  my  dominions  even 
while  I  am  yet  living.  I  never  thought  till  now  that  this  project  would 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  have  made  the  least  impression  on  your  mind.  But 
(as  I  have  lately  perceived,  by  public  rumours  which  are  industriously 
spread,  that  your  Electoral  Highness  has  come  into  this  idea)  it  is  impor- 
tant, with  respect  to  the  succession  of  your  family,  that  I  should  tell  you 
such  a  proceeding  will  infallibly  draw  along  with  it  some  consequences 
which  will  be  dangerous  to  the  succession  itself,  which  is  not  secure  any 
otherwise  than  while  the  sovereign  who  actually  wears  the  crown  main- 

^  Beyer's  Annals,  May  19,  1714.  It  was  likewise  circulated  in  public 
from  the  press  of  F.  Baker,  Black  Boy,  Paternoster  Row. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER.  411 

tains  her  authority  and  just  prerogative.  There  are  here — such  is  our 
misfortune — a  great  many  people  who  are  seditiously  disposed,  so  I  leave 
you  to  judge  what  tumults  they  may  be  able  to  raise  if  they  should  have  a 
pretext  to  begin  a  commotion.  I  persuade  myself,  therefore,  you  will 
never  consent  that  the  least  thing  should  be  done  that  may  disturb  the 
repose  of  me  and  my  subjects. 

"  Open  yourself  with  the  same  freedom  that  I  do  to  you,  and  propose 
whatever  you  may  think  may  contribute  to  the  security  of  the  succession. 
I  will  come  into  it  with  zeal,  provided  that  it  does  not  derogate  from  my 
dignity,  which  I  am  resolved  to  maintain. — I  am,  with  a  great  deal  of 
affection,  your  sister  and  cousin,  Anne." 

This  letter  was  followed  by  an  epistle  to  the  Electoral 
Prince,  in  which  Queen  Anne  roundly  advises  him  to  give 
up  his  intended  visit  to  her,  as  nothing  could  be  more  dis- 
agreeable to  her  than  such  a  proceeding  at  this  juncture.'' 
Reports  flew  about  London  that,  although  in  her  eighty- 
fourth  year,  the  Electress  expected  to  outlive  Queen  Anne, 
and  that  she  was  heard  to  exclaim,  "  that  she  should  die 
content  if  the  words  '  Sophia,  Queen  of  England,'  could  be 
Avritten  on  her  tomb^' — words  which  were  probably  uttered 
for  her. 

Neither  Sophia  nor  her  son,  the  Elector  George,  altered 
the  course  of  conduct  they  had  held  for  nearly  thirty  years, 
which  was  ever  the  most  honourable  abstinence  from  politi- 
cal intrigue  concerning  the  English  succession.  Whatsoever 
derelictions  George  I.  might  have  made  on  the  score  ot 
morality,  yet  his  high  honour  as  a  gentleman,  and  that  of 
all  his  relatives,  forms  a  noble  contrast  to  the  conduct  of 
William  III.  The  appeal  of  his  dying  kinswoman.  Queen 
Anne,  was  scrupulously  regarded,  both  by  himself  and  his 
mother.  And  after  the  deaths  of  both  the  Queen  and  the 
Electress  left  him  successor,  he  suffered  the  throne  of  Great 
Britain  to  wait  many  weeks  before  he  came  to  take  posses- 
sion of  it,  thus  giving  an  opportunity  for  James  Stuart  to 
be  called  peacefully  to  the  succession  of  his  ancestors,  if  the 
people  chose  to  reconsider  their  verdict. 

Meantime  the  aged  Electress  Sophia  showed  no  symp- 
toms of  affliction  of  mind  or  body.  She  took  her  daily 
walks  at  Herenhausen  among  her  trees  and  flowers.  The 
morning  of  June  8th,  1714,  had  been  sultry,  with  fitful 
claps  of  thunder ;  nevertheless  Sophia  took  her  usual  walk 


412 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER. 


when  the  sun  declined,  attended  by  her  granddaughter-in- 
law,  the  Princess  Caroline.  A  hasty  summer-shower,  with  the 
sun  still  shining,  began  to  fall.  Sophia  threw  the  train  of 
her  open  robe  over  her  head  for  shelter,  and  hurried  for- 
wards. The  Princess  said,  ''Is  not  your  Royal  Highness 
walking  too  quickly  V  "I  believe  I  am,''  replied  the  Elec- 
tress,  and  with  these  words  sunk  down.  The  Princess 
caught  her  as  she  fell,  but  life  had  fled.  Her  death  occurred 
by  the  sun-dlal  In  the  garden  at  Herenhausen  just  as  the 
shadow  fell  on  the  hour  of  six. 

The  corpse  of  the  Electress  was  carried  Into  her  apart- 
ment In  the  palace  of  Herenhausen,  and  as  she  had  always 
forbidden  embalming.  It  was  dressed  In  full  dress^  by  her 
ladles,  and  lay  In  state  the  very  first  night,  a  watch  being 
set  round  her  consisting  of  these  persons, — the  chamber- 
lain Bernstoff  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber, 
Nonus,  Schiitz,  and  Steinburg,  besides  all  her  own  ladies, 
and  cavaliers,  and  many  of  her  pages.  Next  day,  the 
9th  of  June,  the  corpse  was  put  Into  a  wooden  coffin,  and 
brought  from  Herenhausen  to  Hanover  in  this  manner : 
four  gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber,  and  eight  gentlemen 
on  service,  entered  at  midnight  the  chamber  of  the  dead, 
and  carried  her  In  her  cofiin  through  the  great  hall,  down 
the  front  staircase,  putting  the  coffin  on  the  funeral  car- 
riage which  stood  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs.  The  fune- 
ral procession  was  opened  by  the  chief  court-deputy,  on 
horseback,  six  footmen  with  lanterns  came  behind  him ; 
then  came  the  Castellan  of  Herenhausen,  and  the  Electress's 
cupbearer,  likewise  mounted.  The  four  gentlemen  of  the 
bedchamber  followed ;  next  the  coflSn,  upon  a  funeral-car 
hung  with  black  cloth,  and  drawn  by  six  black  horses, 
driven  by  a  coachman,  postilions,  and  outriders  bearing 
torches.  On  one  side  of  the  coffin  walked  the  Electress's 
cliamberlain,  Weind,  and  on  the  other  her  equerry,  Eheden. 
Behind  these  came  four  gentlemen  on  service,  two  cavaliers 
of  the  Garde  dit  Corps^  and  six  pages  carrying  lanterns. 

^  Such  death-toilets  are  customary  at  Vienua.  The  late  Emperor 
Francis,  in  his  uniform  and  orders,  thus  lay  in  state,  and  all  his  subjects 
passed  through  the  room  who  chose  to  see  him.  At  Hamburg  the  corpses 
of  the  citizens,  male  and  female,  are  dressed  in  their  best,  painted  white 
and  red,  and  exhibited  before  burial,  usually  at  the  bottom  of  a  great  chest. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTllESS  OF  HANOVER. 


413 


The  cortege  was  followed  by  a  mounted  corporal  and  six 
privates,  cavalry  of  the  Garde  du  Corps. 

At  footfall  this  procession  proceeded  from  Herenhausen 
along  the  allee/'  through  the  Clevergate  over  tlie  New- 
bridge, along  the  Berg  Street  to  the  Castle  of  Hanover. 
On  arriving  in  the  middle  courtyard,  the  cortege  stopped 
before  the  entrance  of  the  chapel.  Tlie  gentlemen  who  put 
the  coffin  on  the  carriage  took  it  again,  and  carried  it 
through  the  chapel  into  the  vault.  At  the  door  waited  the 
Superintendent  of  the  Castle,  with  twelve  footmen,  all  car- 
rying great  wax-candles ;  they  handed  them  to  the  late 
Electress's  twelve  pages,  who  forthwith  lighted  the  corpse 
to  its  place  in  the  vault. 

All  the  ladies  at  court  mourned  in  black  robes  and  veils, 
the  rooms  and  carriages  were  hung  with  black,  and  music 
and  song-singing  were  forbidden  throughout  tlie  land ;  yet 
minutely  as  all  these  funeral  pomps  and  formalities  are  de- 
tailed by  Leibnitz,^  not  one  word  is  left  from  which  we  can 
affirm  that  the  slightest  religious  service  was  performed  over 
the  corpse  of  Sophia. 

^  Leibnitz  did  not  long  survive  bis  patroness ;  be  died  at  Hanover,  No- 
vember 14,  1716,  in  harness,  for  a  pen  was  in  one  band,  and  a  book  in 
the  other,  and  proofs  before  him.  He  was  seventy  years  of  age,  a  great 
sufferer  with  gout  and  stone,  although  abstemious  in  his  habits.  No 
wonder  he  suffered,  for  he  has  been  known  to  be  three  weeks  without 
leaving  his  arm-chair  even  to  go  to  bed.  He  was  of  middle  stature,  thin 
in  person,  very  pleasing  in  face,  with  a  mild  studious  air.  About  the  age 
of  fifty  he  began  to  think  of  marriage — made  an  offer  to  a  lady,  who  said 
"  she  would  further  consider  the  matter."  So  will  I"  replied  the 
German  Newton  ;  but  he  never  renewed  his  love-suit  to  her  or  any  other 
fair  demurrer.  He  was  buried  on  the  esplanade  at  Hanover — not  in  con- 
secrated ground,  we  fear; — yet  that  broke  no  squares  with  Sophia's  philo- 
sopher. A  monument,  in  the  form  of  a  small  Grecian  temple,  was  raised 
over  his  remains  by  command  of  Caroline  when  Princess  of  Wales,  which 
bears  this  simple  inscription,  "  Ossa  Leibnitii."  He  loved  money,  and  left 
60,000  crowns,  only  20,000  of  which  were  put  out  at  interest ;  the  rest  of 
his  treasure  was  foimd  hoarded  among  chaff  and  other  horse-food  in  corn- 
sacks  about  his  store-room  and  granary.  The  house  that  Leibnitz  died  in 
had  been  purchased  for  him  by  his  generous  old  master,  Ernest  Auguste, 
w^ho  likewise  settled  a  stipend  to  keep  it  in  repair.  It  is  one  of  the 
quaintest  and  most  curious  buildings  in  the  ancient  part  of  an  old  city, 
remaining  still  an  object  of  veneration  to  the  citizens  of  Hanover,  and  is 
pointed  out  elevated  above  the  noise  of  the  main  street,  Schmiede  Strasse, 
on  which  it  is  nevertheless  situated.  The  philosopher  studied  and  wrote 
in  a  garret  which  looks  out  from  under  a  gable.  In  the  royal  library  is 
the  chair  in  which  he  was  found  dead,  and  before  it  is  the  book  he  held 
when  the  last  summons  came.  In  1790  a  public  monument  was  raised 
by  the  people  of  Hanover  to  their  sage,  surmounted  with  a  portrait  bust. 
It  stands  on  a  mound  fenced  off  by'a  raiUng  on  one  side  of  Waterloo  Place. 


414 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOYER. 


JEpitaph  of  Sophia  in  the  Castle-Church  of  Hanover, 

SOPHIA 
D.  G.  EX  STIRPE  EL.  PAL. 
ELEC.  VID.  BRUN.  ET  LUN. 
MAG.  BRIT.  HARES, 
NATA 

XIII  OCT.   MDCXXX.  NUPTA  MENSE   SEP.  MDCLVIII. 
AD  SUCCESSTONEM  MAG.  BRIT.  NOMINATA  MDCCI. 
SUB  VE3PERAM  VIII  JUNII  MDCCXIV.  IN  HORTIS 
HERENHAUSANIS  ADHUC  VEGATA  ;    ET   FIRMO  PASSU 
DEAMBULANS,  SUBITA  ET  PLACIDA  MORTE  ERENTA.^ 

One  heart  truly  mourned  for  Sophia ;  it  was  that  of  her 
niece  and  former  pupil,  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  whose  epis- 
tolary lamentations  on  the  death  of  her  beloved  have 
the  pathos,  however  simply  expressed,  of  true  feeling. 

The  dear  Electress,  by  her  consoling  letters,  enabled  me 
to  bear  all  the  troubles  I  found  in  this  land  of  France ;  but 
she  is  gone,  and  I  am  living  without  consolation,  and  none 
have  I  to  hope  for  !  You  may  then  imagine,  dear  Louise,^ 
what  a  sad  and  lonely  life  I  have  to  look  forward  to  until 
the  end.  I  know  not  if  I  have  already  told  you  that  I  fore- 
knew the  sad  intelligence.  My  confessor  came  to  announce 
it  to  me,  but  before  he  spoke  I  began  to  tremble,  as  if  in  the 
access  of  a  violent  fever.  I  turned  pale  as  death,  and  shed 
no  tears  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  I  could  not  breathe ;  I 
was  suffocated.  Then  came  the  tears  in  torrents,  and  I 
wept  for  days  and  nights,  till  I  could  shed  no  more,  and 
now  again  I  feel  suffocated.''  Ten  days  afterwards  she 
writes  to  Louise  :  My  grief  is  so  increased  by  being  forced 
to  keep  it  in  when  I  am  in  public,  for  the  King  [Louis  XIV.] 
does  not  like  to  see  sorrowful  countenances  around  him ;  I 
must  go  to  the  chase  against  my  will.  The  other  day  the 
Elector  of  Bavaria  came  up  to  my  carriage  to  offer  his  con- 
dolences, when  I  burst  out  into  bitter  weeping.  I  saw  all 
the  courtiers  laughed  at  my  sorrow,  but  I  could  not  do 
otherwise.    Ah,  my  dear  Louise  !  what  a  great  distance 

1  History  of  the  House  of  Guelph — Halliday. 

2  Letter  to  Louise,  the  llhinegravine,  her  half  sister,  dated  Marly,  July 
1,  1714  ;  vol.  vi.,  Stutgard. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVEE. 


415 


exists  between  me  and  my  aunt,  in  regard  to  virtues  and 
attainments.  No,  she  cannot  be  compared  to  any  one  in 
this  world  V'^ 

With  all  her  virtues,  her  high  attainments  and  really  bril- 
liant and  noble  qualities,  the  Electress  Sophia  was  unfor- 
tunately deficient  in  that  which  adds  the  truest  lustre  to  a 
throne — religion.  The  example  of  her  elder  brother  and 
sovereign,  the  Elector  Palatine,  under  whose  tutelage  she 
had  spent  her  early  life,  was  not  favourable  to  its  develop- 
ment in  the  mind  of  a  young  princess  of  her  lively  and  satiri- 
cal genius.  She  viewed  w^ith  secret  scorn  his  grimace  of 
zeal  for  the  service  of  God,  coupled  with  his  violation  of 
every  moral  law  and  natural  affection ;  and  she  shrunk 
from  religion  because  he  professed  it. 

In  riper  years,  Sophia"*s  intimate  association  with  the 
leaders  of  the  school  of  false  philosophy,  which  presump- 
tuously exalted  the  poor  blind  powers  of  human  reason 
against  the  Divine  teaching  of  revelation,  was  productive 
of  scepticism.  Hence  her  well-known  wish  for  sudden 
death  without  preparation,  for  she  was  wont  to  express  a 
hope  that,  when  she  died,  "  neither  priest  nor  physician 
might  be  near  her.''  ^  If  this  were  a  favour,  it  was  granted, 
and  more  than  she  asked,  for  she  entered  the  dark  valley 
of  the  shadow  unassisted  by  human  prayer,  and  without  the 
power  herself  of  uttering  one  petition  for  mercy. 

With  the  life  of  Sophia,  Electress  of  Hanover,  we  close  the 
present  series  of  royal  biographies,  written  expressly,  though 
not,  we  trust,  exclusively,  for  the  use  of  the  readers  of  the 

Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England."  The  promise  w^e  gave 
at  the  conclusion  of  that  work,  to  fill  up  several  unavoidable 
chasms  in  the  history  of  female  British  royalty,  by  the 
necessary  adjunct  of  "  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  Scotland  and 
English  Princesses  connected  with  the  regal  succession  of 
Great  Britain,''  has  been  faithfully  performed.    The  parallel 

1  Letter  to  Louise,  the  Rhinegravine,  her  half  sister,  dated  Marly,  July 
10,  1714. 

*  Frederic  the  Great,  Memoirs  of  the  House  of  Brandenburg,  and 
Feder's  Life  of  the  Electress  Sophia. 


416 


SOPHIA,  ELECTEESS  OF  HANOVER. 


links  of  the  chain  are  here  carried  down  to  the  death  of 
Queen  Anne,  and  the  accession  of  the  reigning  dynasty 
to  the  throne  of  the  Britannic  Empire  in  the  person  of 
George  I.,  the  eldest  son  of  Sophia,  Electress  of  Hanover, 
on  whose  posterity  the  regal  succession  was  settled  by 
Parliament  as  the  only  Protestant  branch  of  the  royal 
house  of  Stuart,  now  happily  represented  by  their  august 
descendant,  our  sovereign  lady  Queen  Victoria. 


NEWTON  CAMPUS  DIVISION 
OF 

BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARIES 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS 


\A/^."S  BINDERY  INC. 
VVALTHAM,  MASS. 
NOV.  1966 


DA  758*2   <.S8  1850  v. 8 


S  t  r  i  c  k  1 3  n  d  ?   A  si  n  e  s  ?   179 6 - 1 8 7 4 

Lives  of  the  aueens  of 
S  c  o  1 1 3  n  d  3  n  d  E  r  i  ?.d  1  i  s  h 

Boston  College 
Libraries 

Chestnut  Hill,  Mass.  02167 


